TravelMate P648-M has vulnerable Intel ME firmware

cuynu

Intel CSME tool reporting current Intel ME firmware on this laptop are vulnerable, even though i have updated bios firmware to 1.26. it seems that Intel ME region are still the same as 1.25 and not being updated for long time.

billsey

The mobile processors are not affected by the issues that the desktop processors have with the new processors. Yours, however, is a really old CPU so any changes to the firmware are very unlikely to happen.

eGomes

Hi,

You could try contacting Acer and reporting this problem:

https://community.acer.com/en/kb/articles/17093-report-a-vulnerability

But I think it's unlikely that they'll do anything. Because I've already wasted my time trying to do that!

billsey

The mobile processors are not affected by the issues that the desktop processors have with the new processors. Yours, however, is a really old CPU so any changes to the firmware are very unlikely to happen.

Species8472

In some jurisdictions it means the device never was fit for business and you could argue that it would have to be fixed by the vendor.

If you want the vendor to do something, just sue them and see what happens. I guess you could even run a crowd funding campaign to cover the legal cost for popular enough models, because plenty of people would be curious to see the outcome of such a legal case.

The downside of such a legal case would be that if you win that the computers would likely become more expensive, although they would become more secure, because no vendor would be able to cover the liability from bad products (which products with vulnerabilities are by definition).

billsey

A 6th gen Intel chipset is eight years old. Systems in the business world are expected to be upgraded around every three years so it's unusual for a machine that's nearly three times that to be getting direct support any longer.