On Thu, Feb 19, 2015 at 7:35 PM, Mirimir <[email protected]> wrote: >>> https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch09.html#rawdisk > > VirtualBox in Linux doesn't require root rights. I just checked htop on > the host, and all VM processes are running as user. And visudo shows > nothing about VirtualBox.
It may be setuid and switching users, or kernel module or helper program or something, otherwise vbox docs about pointing at /dev/sdx are bogus because the raw devices aren't available to non root users. I didn't read vbox docs closely. > How would I test that? I suppose that I could setup a VM to boot from an > HDD, and then see if I can flash the HDD's firmware. But I'm not the > NSA, and so only success would be probative. But hey, I'll take a shot. http://www.t13.org/documents/UploadedDocuments/docs2008/d1699r6a-ata8-acs.pdf With whatever windows tools you find. Probably sdparm hdparm on linux. camcontrol's cmd capabilities and cam(4) debug options on freebsd. I wouldn't try to flash or fuzz a drive you can't afford to brick.
