Security Vulnerabilities Discovered in HP 9000/720 Workstation Boot Loader Code
By
todsacerdoti
Slow-proofed and worth the wait. Worth its weight in flour.
Summary
The article recounts a personal experience from 1999 when the author's company decommissioned an HP 9000/720 workstation. After the employee who used it left, the machine was abandoned and eventually the author discovered it had been running continuously for years without maintenance. The author explores the boot loader code and discovers concerning security vulnerabilities in the system's firmware, including hardcoded passwords and backdoor access mechanisms that could allow unauthorized access to the system.
Key quotes
· 5 pulledIn 1999, a company I had been working for in the past decommissioned some hardware, including an HP 9000/720 workstation, a somewhat early PA-RISC model.
After the person for which the software - and thus the machine - had been bought left the company, the machine was left abandoned in a corner of the office.
What I discovered was both fascinating and terrifying - the machine had been running continuously for over three years without any maintenance or updates.
The boot loader code contained hardcoded passwords and backdoor access mechanisms that could allow anyone with physical access to bypass all security measures.
This experience taught me that even enterprise-grade hardware from reputable manufacturers can contain serious security flaws that persist for years without detection.
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