Skill UI

This comprehensive guide details advanced forensic techniques for detecting and analyzing sophisticated malware that operates at the system's deepest levels, such as the Master Boot Record (MBR), Volume Boot Record (VBR), and UEFI firmware. It covers boot sector disassembly, UEFI module inspection, and memory forensics (SSDT/DKOM). Use this when standard security tools fail or when investigating nation-state level compromises.

CHIPSEC is an open-source framework designed to assess the low-level security configuration of x86 platform firmware and hardware. It verifies critical security controls such as SPI flash write protection, BIOS locks, SMM/SMRR configuration, and Secure Boot variable integrity. Users can run automated tests, dump SPI flash memories for forensics, and detect potential firmware implants that persist below the operating system layer.

This skill is designed for proactive firmware forensics and advanced threat hunting. It analyzes the EFI System Partition (ESP) to detect sophisticated, pre-OS persistence mechanisms, such as UEFI bootkits (e.g., BlackLotus, ESPecter). Detection methods include verifying file hashes against a trusted golden baseline, checking Secure Boot signatures, scanning with YARA, and flagging structural anomalies within the ESP.