Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered firmware safety vulnerabilities within the Illumina iSeq 100 DNA sequencing instrument that, if efficiently exploited, might allow attackers to brick or plant persistent malware on vulnerable units.
“The Illumina iSeq 100 used a really outdated implementation of BIOS firmware utilizing CSM [Compatibility Support Mode] mode and with out Safe Boot or commonplace firmware write protections,” Eclypsium said in a report shared with The Hacker Information.
“This is able to permit an attacker on the system to overwrite the system firmware to both ‘brick’ the machine or set up a firmware implant for ongoing attacker persistence.”
Whereas the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is the fashionable substitute for the Fundamental Enter/Output System (BIOS), the firmware safety firm mentioned the iSeq 100 boots to an previous model of BIOS (B480AM12 – 04/12/2018) that has recognized vulnerabilities.
Additionally noticeably absent are protections to inform the {hardware} the place it may well learn and write firmware, thereby permitting an attacker to change machine firmware. Additionally not enabled is Safe Boot, thereby permitting malicious modifications to the firmware to go undetected.
Eclypsium identified that it isn’t advisable for newer high-value property to help CSM, because it’s mainly meant for previous units that may’t be upgraded and want to keep up compatibility. Following accountable disclosure, Illumina has launched a repair.
In a hypothetical assault situation, an adversary might goal unpatched Illumina units, escalate their privileges, and write arbitrary code to the firmware.
This isn’t the primary time extreme vulnerabilities have been disclosed in DNA gene sequencers from Illumina. In April 2023, a important safety flaw (CVE-2023-1968, CVSS rating: 10.0) might have made it attainable to snoop on community site visitors and remotely transmit arbitrary instructions.
“The power to overwrite firmware on the iSeq 100 would allow attackers to simply disable the machine, inflicting vital disruption within the context of a ransomware assault. This is able to not solely take a high-value machine out of service, it could additionally seemingly take appreciable effort to recuperate the machine through manually reflashing the firmware,” Eclypsium mentioned.
“This might considerably increase the stakes within the context of a ransomware or cyberattack. Sequencers are important to detecting genetic sicknesses, cancers, figuring out drug-resistant micro organism, and for the manufacturing of vaccines. This is able to make these units a ripe goal for state-based actors with geopolitical motives along with the extra conventional monetary motives of ransomware actors.”
