Home » Questions » Computers [ Ask a new question ]

BIOS root kit? Or, how do I fresh install a clean BIOS?

BIOS root kit? Or, how do I fresh install a clean BIOS?

So I was installing questionable operating system onto my EEE pc and it required me to downgrade the BIOS which I really am not an expert at. I used a patch and it appeared to work.

Asked by: Guest | Views: 231
Total answers/comments: 1
Guest [Entry]

"is it possible to ""start over"" completely fresh with my BIOS? As in wipe out the possibly malicious BIOS and go back to the manufacturer-provided one?

Only by pulling out the BIOS EEPROM chip and replacing it with a known-good one. There are sites that will sell you EEPROMs for various motherboards/BIOS versions, in order to save you when you've burned a bad BIOS and can't boot at all.

If you have an untrusted BIOS you have lost all control of the software layer. You could try to re-flash it with a good BIOS, but since the BIOS has already run it could have rooted the OS you're using, and made it sabotage the BIOS flasher.

The good news is that there are no known attacks that actually do this at the moment, because it's really hard even to author a malicious BIOS that would work across more than a tiny range of motherboards, never mind all the complex payload code. If you just want to brick the machine, on the other hand, that's easy!"