Re:Intel patches new ME vulnerabilities
by close04 on Sunday July 22, 2018 @02:39PM
(#17588106)
I just realized I was actually thinking about AMT FW not being present (the management over the network part). ME is indeed there since 2006 and can be removed with varying degrees of success.
But I was under the impression that the ME FW on non vPro systems is there just for things like BootGuard or TXT, which (presumably) wouldn't need the full ME functionality. I did not expect that some manufacturers ship the AMT-enabled FW without marketing it as such.
I can't see the actual demo so I imagine they found some non-vPro system where the manufacturer actually shipped the full AMT FW. I'm curious if that's a common occurrence.
Non-AMT firmware is about the 3-4 time smaller than AMT-enabled firmware. That's a hefty difference so if you have the non-AMT version and you can still somehow enable it you'd get a very limited subset of what AMT usually is.
But I was under the impression that the ME FW on non vPro systems is there just for things like BootGuard or TXT, which (presumably) wouldn't need the full ME functionality. I did not expect that some manufacturers ship the AMT-enabled FW without marketing it as such.
I can't see the actual demo so I imagine they found some non-vPro system where the manufacturer actually shipped the full AMT FW. I'm curious if that's a common occurrence.
Non-AMT firmware is about the 3-4 time smaller than AMT-enabled firmware. That's a hefty difference so if you have the non-AMT version and you can still somehow enable it you'd get a very limited subset of what AMT usually is.