We all know very well that the USB pendrive, like other external memory units, can pose a risk to our computer. An infected system can make these pendrives as its ‘vehicle’ to infect other devices. Now according to the latest reports, today in this article I will tell you all about a simple USB that can trigger BSOD even on locked Windows PCs.
The USB pendrive, like other external memory units, can pose a risk to our computer. An infected system can make these pendrives as its ‘vehicle’ to infect other devices, and we should never use external memories that we do not know where they come from.
A new threat, which uses this type of media, allows an attacker to cause blue screens on Windows computers with malicious code. This blue BSOD screen also jumps as soon as the memory is connected to the computer.
The vulnerability has been found and described by Marius Tivadar, a Bitdefender security researcher. As described, with a code – which obviously has not been detailed – it is possible to cause a BSOD in Microsoft Windows operating systems.
This ‘blue screen’, which is how we know most of the users, comes out as soon as the USB pen-drive is connected to the computer, and also jumps regardless of whether the device is locked. It is enough that it is turned on, and it is not necessary to open the user’s account, for example, or a guest account in the system.
How did they do this?
The attack is carried out using the NTFS partition management system of Microsoft’s Windows operating systems. With a customized NTFS image it is possible to generate BSOD blue screenshots in any Windows version, and it does not matter if an administrator account is active within the system, or if it is a user with restricted permissions. In case the equipment is blocked when the pendrive is connected, and skipping the BSOD blue screen automatically and instantly, damage to the device may be caused.
On behalf of the users, Build 16299 of the Windows 10 operating system is already safe against this security failure. Previous operating systems, and previously released builds remain vulnerable. Obviously, an attack of this type is not easy to execute. However, it is always advisable to update the system to have the latest improvements related to security.
The USB pendrive, like other external memory units, can pose a risk to our computer. An infected system can make these pendrives as its ‘vehicle’ to infect other devices, and we should never use external memories that we do not know where they come from.
A new threat, which uses this type of media, allows an attacker to cause blue screens on Windows computers with malicious code. This blue BSOD screen also jumps as soon as the memory is connected to the computer.
The vulnerability has been found and described by Marius Tivadar, a Bitdefender security researcher. As described, with a code – which obviously has not been detailed – it is possible to cause a BSOD in Microsoft Windows operating systems.
This ‘blue screen’, which is how we know most of the users, comes out as soon as the USB pen-drive is connected to the computer, and also jumps regardless of whether the device is locked. It is enough that it is turned on, and it is not necessary to open the user’s account, for example, or a guest account in the system.
How did they do this?
The attack is carried out using the NTFS partition management system of Microsoft’s Windows operating systems. With a customized NTFS image it is possible to generate BSOD blue screenshots in any Windows version, and it does not matter if an administrator account is active within the system, or if it is a user with restricted permissions. In case the equipment is blocked when the pendrive is connected, and skipping the BSOD blue screen automatically and instantly, damage to the device may be caused.
On behalf of the users, Build 16299 of the Windows 10 operating system is already safe against this security failure. Previous operating systems, and previously released builds remain vulnerable. Obviously, an attack of this type is not easy to execute. However, it is always advisable to update the system to have the latest improvements related to security.
Tags:
hack