Tag Archive for: Models

Hackers can infect >100 Lenovo models with unremovable malware. Are you patched?

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Hackers can infect >100 Lenovo models with unremovable malware. Are you patched?

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Lenovo has released security updates for more than 100 laptop models to fix critical vulnerabilities that make it possible for advanced hackers to surreptitiously install malicious firmware that can be next to impossible to remove or, in some cases, to detect.

Three vulnerabilities affecting more than 1 million laptops can give hackers the ability to modify a computer’s UEFI. Short for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, the UEFI is the software that bridges a computer’s device firmware with its operating system. As the first piece of software to run when virtually any modern machine is turned on, it’s the initial link in the security chain. Because the UEFI resides in a flash chip on the motherboard, infections are difficult to detect and even harder to remove.

Oh, no

Two of the vulnerabilities—tracked as CVE-2021-3971 and CVE-2021-3972—reside in UEFI firmware drivers intended for use only during the manufacturing process of Lenovo consumer notebooks. Lenovo engineers inadvertently included the drivers in the production BIOS images without being properly deactivated. Hackers can exploit these buggy drivers to disable protections, including UEFI secure boot, BIOS control register bits, and protected range register, which are baked into the serial peripheral interface (SPI) and designed to prevent unauthorized changes to the firmware it runs.

After discovering and analyzing the vulnerabilities, researchers from security firm ESET found a third vulnerability, CVE-2021-3970. It allows hackers to run malicious firmware when a machine is put into system management mode, a high-privilege operating mode typically used by hardware manufacturers for low-level system management.

“Based on the description, those are all pretty ‘oh no’ sorts of attacks for sufficiently advanced attackers,” Trammel Hudson, a security researcher specializing in firmware hacks, told Ars. “Bypassing SPI flash permissions is pretty bad.”

He said the severity may be lessened by protections such as BootGuard, which is designed to prevent unauthorized people…

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March 2022 Security Update Reaches Snapdragon Galaxy S22 Models

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Samsung has started rolling out the March 2022 security update for the Snapdragon variants of the Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22+, and the Galaxy S22 Ultra. This update made its way to the Exynos 2200 versions of the Galaxy S22 trio not too long ago.

The updates on the three Samsung flagships bear the firmware version S90xEXXU1AVBF. While there’s no changelog available at the moment, Samsung could publish it over the next few days. Given the nature of monthly security patches, the changes should include the usual bug fixes and stability improvements.

SamMobile claims that the update is rolling out across India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. If you’re in either of these regions and aren’t seeing the update yet, navigate to Settings – About phone to download and install the update manually.

Although the Galaxy S22 appears to be surpassing initial sales expectations, the Korean manufacturer is also facing a few challenges. There are legitimate concerns about supply shortages, which have led to the delay of several shipments. Recent reports claim some variants may not be in stock until May 2022.

The Galaxy S22 lineup has fared poorly in repairability and durability tests

Separately, independent sources have pointed out a few flaws in the device’s design. Subsequent teardowns of the Galaxy S22 lineup have offered more context. One of the most reputable sources of device teardowns, iFixit, recently put the Galaxy S22 to the test.

In its analysis, the iFixit team found a few crucial omissions, such as the lack of pull tapes beneath the battery. Instead, Samsung uses glue to keep the battery attached to the body. This means repair technicians will have to use isopropyl alcohol to dissolve the glue and safely remove the battery. This and several other factors led to the Galaxy S22 scoring just three out of 10 on iFixit’s repairability scale.

Additionally, a drop test by Allstate painted a bleak picture of the Galaxy S22’s durability. When dropped on rough concrete from around six feet, all three Galaxy S22 flagships returned cracked screens. Dropping the phones on their backs didn’t bring any favorable results either, primarily due to…

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Chip Shortage Has Manufacturers Turning to Lower-Tech Models

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Manufacturers struggling with a shortage of semiconductor chips are finding workarounds, executives said, redesigning products, shipping uncompleted units and focusing on older, lower-tech models.

After pushing for years to add digital features like screens and wireless connectivity, makers of appliances and vehicles are reversing, temporarily, to continue supplying products to dealers and consumers amid a shortfall in semiconductors that industry officials project will last into next year.

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Security audit raises severe warnings on Chinese smartphone models

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A child uses a smartphone.
Enlarge / Be sure you know what you’re getting into before buying and using unfamiliarly branded smartphones—especially international models not originally intended for your country.

The Lithuanian National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) recently published a security assessment of three recent-model Chinese-made smartphones—Huawei’s P40 5G, Xiaomi’s Mi 10T 5G, and OnePlus’ 8T 5G. Sufficiently determined US shoppers can find the P40 5G on Amazon and the Mi 10T 5G on Walmart.com—but we will not be providing direct links to those phones, given the results of the NCSC’s security audit.

The Xiaomi phone includes software modules specifically designed to leak data to Chinese authorities and to censor media related to topics the Chinese government considers sensitive. The Huawei phone replaces the standard Google Play application store with third-party substitutes the NCSC found to harbor sketchy, potentially malicious repackaging of common applications.

Huawei's P40 is still stuck on Android 10, while Xiaomi ships with 10 but can be upgraded to 11. Only the OnePlus 8T shipped from the factory with Android 11 installed.

Huawei’s P40 is still stuck on Android 10, while Xiaomi ships with 10 but can be upgraded to 11. Only the OnePlus 8T shipped from the factory with Android 11 installed.

The OnePlus 8T 5G—arguably, the best-known and most widely marketed phone of the three—was the only one to escape the NCSC’s scrutiny without any red flags raised.

Xiaomi Mi 10T 5G

The NCSC found that seven default system apps on the Xiaomi phone can monitor media content for blocking from the user, using a regularly downloaded JSON file.

The NCSC found that seven default system apps on the Xiaomi phone can monitor media content for blocking from the user, using a regularly downloaded JSON file.

Xiaomi’s Mi 10T 5G ships with a nonstandard browser called “Mi Browser.” The NCSC found two components in Mi Browser which it didn’t like—Google Analytics, and a less familiar module called Sensor Data.

The Google Analytics module in Mi Browser can read from the device’s browsing and search history and can then send that data to Xiaomi servers for unspecified analysis and use. The Google Analytics module is activated automatically by default during the phone’s first activation or after any factory reset.

The NCSC found that Sensor Data’s module collects statistics on 61 parameters related to application…

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