Thunderstrike 2
This is the annotated transcript of our DefCon 23 / BlackHat 2015 talk, which presented the full details of Thunderstrike 2, the first firmware worm for Apple’s Macs that can spread via both software or Thunderbolt hardware accessories and writes itself to the boot flash on the system’s motherboard. The original slides are available.
The concept is based on earlier firmware vulnerabilities. According to articles, five new vulnerabilities were reported to Apple after the original Thunderstrike proof of concept. Of those, one has been patched, one has been partially patched, and three more are still being dealt with.
However, Apple also added code to block an attack from a Web page (or other software) from infecting the firmware. It may still be possible to attack the Mac’s firmware if the bad guy can gain physical access, but you don’t have to worry about your firmware becoming infected because you browsed to the wrong Web site.
[…]
[Nearly] everyone can ignore Thunderstrike 2 entirely. The research really is excellent, compelling work that the Wired piece unfortunately turned into a bit of a fright-fest. The Web attack vector, in particular, is blocked in OS X 10.10.4.
Previously: Mac OS X 10.10.2.
