Hi Tim,

I was wondering how the virtualbox implementation on top of

genode/nova fares against this type of attack: https://hsmr.cc/palinopsia/

is 3d acceleration used? is there strong isolation of the video memory?

our version of VirtualBox does not use/support hardware-accelerated graphics. We needed a GPU driver first.

Thanks for the link. It is important to keep such attack vectors in mind. It also bears the question: Does your BIOS clear all physical memory at boot time? If not, couldn't an attacker with physical access to a machine (i.e., a stolen laptop that may still be locked with a screensaver) reset the machine, boot a custom OS from a USB stick, and scan the memory for credentials? What would be a viable defense against such a scenario?

Cheers Norman

Hi Norman,

If we need protection from a boot of a custom OS from a USB stick on the device, we need to only have a High Assurance Boot (HAB) aka Secure boot feature that comes in with some of the processors like iMX series range. This would prevent any kind of a modified boot image to be used for booting and the device would give a picture as if it is just hung - refusing to boot up with the modified boot image.

Thanks

Vasan

On Mon, Mar 23, 2015 at 11:20 PM, Norman Feske <norman.feske@...1...

wrote:

Hi Tim,

...

I was wondering how the virtualbox implementation on top of

genode/nova fares against this type of attack: https://hsmr.cc/palinopsia/

is 3d acceleration used? is there strong isolation of the video memory?

our version of VirtualBox does not use/support hardware-accelerated graphics. We needed a GPU driver first.

Thanks for the link. It is important to keep such attack vectors in mind. It also bears the question: Does your BIOS clear all physical memory at boot time? If not, couldn't an attacker with physical access to a machine (i.e., a stolen laptop that may still be locked with a screensaver) reset the machine, boot a custom OS from a USB stick, and scan the memory for credentials? What would be a viable defense against such a scenario?

Cheers Norman

-- Dr.-Ing. Norman Feske Genode Labs

http://www.genode-labs.com · http://genode.org

Genode Labs GmbH · Amtsgericht Dresden · HRB 28424 · Sitz Dresden Geschäftsführer: Dr.-Ing. Norman Feske, Christian Helmuth

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