Researchers find Macs also vulnerable to some firmware worms


A type of firmware-level worm targeted at PCs have been found to also affect Macs. Such a worm is particularly challenging because it sits below the system level were typical software countermeasures can work and generally replicates itself during firmware updates.

Interestingly the worm can be spread through compromised adapters. The article suggests one way of slowly passing the worm is through knock off adapters on eBay.

"Let's say you're running a uranium refining centrifuge plant and you don't have it connected to any networks, but people bring laptops into it and perhaps they share Ethernet adapters or external SSDs to bring data in and out," [Xeno] Kovah notes. "Those SSDs have option ROMs that could potentially carry this sort of infection. Perhaps because it's a secure environment they don't use WiFi, so they have Ethernet adapters. Those adapters also have option ROMs that can carry this malicious firmware."

The worms affect Macs because Apple utilizes common reference designs on motherboards and controllers.

The article states that Apple is working on addressing the vulnerabilities.