WinXP SP2 [Buffer Overrun Protection at procesor level]

[dynagnosis]

This is old news to most of you I'm sure, Windows XP SP2 in conjunction with certain processors prevent buffer overflows at a hardware level.

The Enhanced Virus Protection is included with all AMD 64-bit processors including the Opteron and Athlon64 chips. The technology will work in tandem with Microsoft's recently announced Data Execution Prevention system that is part of the latest Windows XP SP2 beta.

Ref URL: Securing XP at the Chip Level


...I was wondering if anyone has tested this yet? I'm really looking forward to seeing how this impacts the security world and future exploit attempts.

[Tiger Shark]

Isn't this going to require everyone to upgrade their box to 64 bit processors?

I dunno, I still have a bunch of people I know running Win95.... Despite my rants and raves they, rightfully, conclude that they can get their email and surf the web, "So why do I need to spend more money?".....

No matter what I say.... the mighty dollar is the driving force.....

[slarty]

And once again, I repeat what I suggested earlier:

- Does Solar designer's non-exec stack patch (which is at least 4 years old, possibly more) for Linux do the same thing?
- If so, it is much better because it also works on pre-amd64 x86 CPUs

Other OSs also have had non-executable stack patches, such as on Solaris. Are these the same or different?

Slarty

[dynagnosis]

Tiger Shark ~
Yes this requires an Athalon 64bit processor.. I'm not suggestion everyone go out and buy a new machine however knowing the life cycle of CPUs I would guess that if they ALL jump on the bandwagon and support this feature then we should see ALL new machines being connected to the internet come standard with buffer overflow protection within a year or so.. thats big.

LOL - Yeah I know quite a few that say the same thing... however the people running Win95 are probably among the safest machines out there as far as infection from new viruses... who writes viruses for old, out of date 16bit OS's ? hehe..

slarty ~
I know this isn't a brand new idea.. there has been software in the market for a long time that attempts to protect the stack from overflow attempts [or rather, make the stack a non-executable enviroment]. The cool thing about this is that its done at the hardware level and patches are not required. Joe User doesnt have to know anything about security... it's just a feature of all new cpus (not now, im thinking a year or so).