Re: Intel Pentium Bug

[travish () DEJANEWS COM (Travis Hassloch)]

In message <Pine.SUN.3.94.971107193930.26939A-100000 () dfw dfw net>, Aleph One wr
ites:
> If Intel where to provide a program to update the microcode on the CPU
> it would most probably be disassembled and reverse engineered quickly.
> Whats a multi-billion company to do?

http://techweb.cmp.com/eet/news/97/961news/ibug.html

> "Each BIOS Update is tailored for a particular stepping of [a] processor,"
> according to Intel technical documentation obtained by EE Times. "The
> data within the update is encrypted by Intel and is designed such that
> it is rejected by any stepping of the processor other than its intended
> recipient. The encryption scheme also guards against tampering of the
> update data and provides a means for determining the authenticity of
> any given BIOS update."
>
> The heart of BIOS Update is a block of data precisely 2,048 bytes in
> length. Of that block, 2,000 bytes are the actual update; the remainder
> is header and checksum information. The update gets loaded into the
> processor by an "update loader," which BIOS vendors are required to
> include in the firmware they provide for use with Intel's CPUs.
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Travis Hassloch / travish () dejanews com / http://www.dejanews.com
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