PC Gaming

Not quite a nothingburger

Nissim and Okupski note that exploiting the bug would require hackers to already have obtained relatively deep access to an AMD-based PC or server, but that the Sinkclose flaw would then allow them to plant their malicious code far deeper still. In fact, for any machine with one of the vulnerable AMD chips, the IOActive researchers warn that an attacker could infect the computer with malware known as a “bootkit” that evades antivirus tools and is potentially invisible to the operating system, while offering a hacker full access to tamper with the machine and surveil its activity.

Not entirely a nothing burger, I think. If there’s any truth to the anti-cheat outrage, there’s a large population of average joes handing out ring 0 access to a growing number of third or fourth party companies for the purpose of kernel level anti-cheat in video games.

Still a supply chain attack or a vulnerability in one of the A/C programs, but not as impossible as we would like it to be.

I really dislike the idea of "needs ring 0 = nothingburger".

There's plenty if ways to gain ring 0 access like a user to approving a UAC prompt... Or for an attacker to utilize any number of existing ring 0 escalation vulnerabilities on an unpatched system, or for a UAC bypass to be utilized, or for the attacker to establish a RAT on the system using a tech support scam or similar.

Difficult? Yes!

Only viable via a supply chain attack as some like to suggest? Absolutely not.