this post was submitted on 24 Dec 2024
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774
Asus bombards Windows 11 with christmas.exe malware-like Christmas wreath banner (www.windowslatest.com)
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 381 points 1 month ago (38 children)

When you turn on your PC and notice that there’s a huge Christmas banner on your desktop, do not panic – your device is not compromised.

Hah, well a vendor just pushed unapproved executable to the device and ran it without consent. Under any definition or other context it's definitely compromised.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 month ago (8 children)

Welp, seems ASUS motherboards also push this by default: https://www.techpowerup.com/248827/asus-z390-motherboards-automatically-push-software-into-your-windows-installation

During testing for our Intel Core i9-9900K review we found out that new ASUS Z390 motherboards automatically install software and drivers to your Windows 10 System, without the need for network access, and without any user knowledge or confirmation. This process happens in complete network-isolation (i.e. the machine has no Internet or LAN access).

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

What does it do with Linux?

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

The ASUS UEFI firmware exposes an ACPI table to Windows 10, called "WPBT" or "Windows Platform Binary Table". WPBT is used in the pre-built OEM industry, and is referred to as "the Vendor's Rootkit." Put simply, it is a script that makes Windows copy data from the BIOS to the System32 folder on the machine and execute it during Windows startup - every single time the system is booted.

So, sounds like a Windows-specific ~~vulnerability~~ feature.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Make a read only file/folder with the same name and the script should fail. But that is horseshit.

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