Description
OpenBSD and NetBSD permit usermode code to kill the display server and write to the X.Org /dev/xf86 device, which allows local users with root privileges to reduce securelevel by replacing the System Management Mode (SMM) handler via a write to an SMRAM address within /dev/xf86 (aka the video card memory-mapped I/O range), and then launching the new handler via a System Management Interrupt (SMI), as demonstrated by a write to Programmed I/O port 0xB2.
References
- 20061215 Re: The (in)security of Xorg and DRI mailing-list
- [Xorg] 20040613 DRI merging mailing-list
- 20061218 Re: The (in)security of Xorg and DRI mailing-list
- http://www.ssi.gouv.fr/fr/sciences/fichiers/lti/cansecwest2006-duflot-paper.pdf
- http://www.cansecwest.com/slides06/csw06-duflot.ppt
- 20061214 The (in)security of Xorg and DRI mailing-list