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Devices Still Vulnerable to DMA Attacks Despite Protections

January 30, 2020

DMA is designed to allow hardware components or peripheral devices to directly access system memory, independently of the operating system and the CPU. The feature, however, can be abused for malicious purposes by an attacker who has gained access to a device’s firmware or who has physical access to the targeted machine.

DMA attacks that involve physical access can be launched by connecting a malicious device to the targeted computer via an available port — this is called a closed-chassis attack — or by physically opening the case of the targeted computer to gain access to internal hardware — this is called an open-chassis attack. DMA attacks can also be launched remotely via malware that is able to modify the targeted device’s firmware.

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