It wasn’t me, it was the cosmic rays! Blaming physics for evil actions!
summary
Claim: a single event upset — a cosmic-ray–induced bit flip — can change an x86 conditional opcode (demoed as x74→x72 flip) in an OpenSSH binary to bypass authentication. Demo edits the compiled ELF, restarts sshd, and gains a shell, claiming success under plausible conditions: high altitude, low-quality power or old Raspberry Pi builds. Recommended mitigations: ECC memory and bit-for-bit reproducible builds to detect or prevent such tiny, targeted tampering.
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chapters (6)
- 0:00Memory bit flips and cosmic rays
- 1:20Single event upsets in hardware
- 2:43Supply chain attacks via bit flips
- 5:11OpenSSH authentication attack demo
- 7:58Live bit-flip attack demo
- 10:12Mitigating supply chain attacks
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