Intel ME and AMD PSP: The silicon layer nobody certifies
About cloud sovereignty and the often-ignored and unknown on-CPU management engine running below the OS and BIOS.
The article is quite long; it explains how CPUs run firmware that can include remote management over the network, and can be running even when the OS is not. They can be vulnerable to supply chain attacks and firmware replacements. Because it’s on hardware, the firmware with open security vulnerabilities is often not updated.
Regarding cloud, the French SecNumCloud is a framework for cloud infrastructure security requirements. It doesn’t cover these hardware attack vectors specifically but may mitigate risks through surrounding practices and isolation.
In conclusion, even a cloud provider that meets SecNumCloud must be asked whether and how they manage CPU management engine attack vectors.
One usual use case is for IPMI-style server management, being able to remotely monitor and interact with the machine before even the BIOS is ready, so particularly more relevant to server deployments. For example, adjusting BIOS settings over a dedicated management LAN for several thousand rack servers