(First-Party) DMA Malware Paper

This paper is really interesting: http://www.stewin.org/papers/dimvap15-stewin.pdf
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Abstract (excerpt): ... Modern computers contain dedicated hardware such as network and graphics cards. Such devices implement independent execution environments but have direct memory access (DMA) to the host runtime memory. In this work we introduce DMA malware, i. e., malware executed on dedicated hardware to launch stealthy attacks against the host using DMA. DMA malware goes beyond the capability to control DMA hardware.

We implemented DAGGER, a keylogger that attacks Linux and Windows platforms. Our evaluation conrms that DMA malware can efficiently attack kernel structures even if memory address randomization is in place. DMA malware is stealthy to a point where the host cannot detect its presence. We evaluate and discuss possible countermeasures and the (in)effectiveness of hardware extensions such as input/output memory management units (IOMMU).
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For me, the very interesting finding on the paper is the presence of ARCtangent Microcontroller which (acts as the DMA "engine". The vendor of this "vague" MCU is quite hard to come by on G$$gle search. It turns out that ARC International is a subsidiary of Synopsys now. These are the relevant links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARC_International

http://www.synopsys.com/dw/ipdir.php?ds=arc_mpu (I think the paper probably talks about this chip)

http://www.synopsys.com/IP/ProcessorIP/ARCProcessors/ARCEM/Pages/default.aspx

PS: "First Party" DMA is also known as Bus Mastering

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