MESSAGE
| DATE | 2004-06-07 |
| FROM | David Sugar
|
| SUBJECT | Re: [hangout] CPU-based security for Windows XP, Red Hat Linux coming
|
Actually, no. No-execute is a feature historically found in many cpu's
and mainframes, outside of x86 architecture. It is a way to mark
portions of memory as non-executable so that if one has data that
overruns a buffer, it cannot be made to execute as code. I think
openbsd was actually the first system to make use of NX capabilities on
x86 hardware. There are also other things that openbsd originally did,
such as how process memory is arranged, to further reduce risk from
buffer overuns in data ending up somewhere that can be executed even
before NX capability became available in x86 hardware.
Ruben I Safir wrote:
>
> Is this in any way related to DRM?
>
> Ruben
>
> On 2004.06.07 17:42 "Inker, Evan" wrote:
> >
> > CPU-based security for Windows XP, Red Hat Linux coming
> > The hardware security feature will get OS support later this year
> >
> >
> > News Story by Todd R. Weiss
> >
> > JUNE 07, 2004 (COMPUTERWORLD) - Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 and the
> > next version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 will support new CPU-based
> > security protections designed to stop incoming malicious executable code
> > from being triggered.
> > The improved security feature has been included in 64-bit CPUs from Advanced
> > Micro Devices Inc. since last year, but operating system makers haven't yet
> > built support for the technology into their code, said Jeff Lowe, desktop
> > marketing manager at Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD. That will change when
> > Windows XP SP2 is released later this year and when Red Hat's new enterprise
> > Linux OS ships in August.
> >
> > AMD calls its version of the new technology Enhanced Virus Protection. It
> > was created by making changes to the silicon architecture in the processors
> > that alter how code is permitted to enter and exit system memory, Lowe said.
> > As a result, malicious code that acts in nonapproved ways can be stopped at
> > the gate.
> >
> > "We think it's a great idea," he said. "You'll automatically get a level of
> > security with it, then when you add security software you'll make it as hard
> > as possible for hackers to get your company's data and your data. It's as
> > many speed bumps as you can put in" to prevent attacks.
> >
> > Red Hat is now working on the new NX -- or "no execute" -- technology in
> > prototype form for use with x86 processors from Intel Corp. and with Intel's
> > 64-bit extension technology, said Tim Burke, director of server development
> > at Raleigh, N.C.-based Red Hat. NX prevents an operating system from
> > executing malicious code at the CPU and memory levels so it can't infect a
> > computer or system.
> >
> > The NX technology is already present on Intel Itanium CPUs and is now in the
> > prototype stages for x86 CPUs, he said.
> >
> > Red Hat is also working on a related security feature called Execshield,
> > which is designed to help separate the program stack from its instruction
> > area to prevent executables from erroneously being run in the event of an
> > overflow, Burke said. Execshield also randomizes the memory address of a
> > program stack to make it harder for malicious code to know where to gain
> > entry into the program.
> >
> > "This makes it almost impossible to figure where to put the malicious
> > instructions," he said.
> >
> > Dan Snyder, a spokesman for Intel, said its Execute Disabled Bit security
> > technology is already included in the company's Itanium CPUs. Support for
> > the technology will also be built into Pentium 4 chips by the third quarter
> > of this year, he said.
> >
> > "It's not the be all and end all," Snyder said, but it should help prevent
> > buffer underrun and other malicious attacks. "This basically prevents that
> > by locking the operating system into not allowing it" to occur, he said.
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> __________________________
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____________________________
NYLXS: New Yorker Free Software Users Scene
Fair Use -
because it's either fair use or useless....
NYLXS is a trademark of NYLXS, Inc
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