Vulnerabilities of Lightweight Operating Systems
About
Verified boot is an interesting feature of Chromium OS that supposedly can detect any modification in the root file system (rootfs) by a dedicated adversary. However, by exploiting a design flaw in verified boot, we show that an adversary can replace the original rootfs by a malicious rootfs containing exploits such as a spyware or keylogger and still pass the verified boot process.
The exploit is based on the fact that a dedicated adversary can replace the rootfs and the corresponding verification information in the bootloader.
We experimentally demonstrate an attack using both the base and developer version of Chromium OS in which the adversary installs a spyware in the target system to send cached user data to the attacker machine in plain text which are otherwise encrypted, and thus inaccessible. We also demonstrate techniques to mitigate this vulnerability.
Dr. Mohammad Husain
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PolySec lab is a center for education and research in Information assurance, security and forensics at the department of Computer Science of Cal Poly Pomona led by Prof. Mohammad Husain.
Pomona, CA 91768, U.S.
