Update your MyAsus software now because there's a fix for a nasty hack that could easily ruin your day
If you have an Asus PC, laptop, AIO, or mini PC, you might want to make sure your pre-installed apps are up-to-date. That's generally always good advice, but with the patching of a high-severity exploit in Asus' MyAsus app, it's particularly true right now.
As posted to the Asus security board, "An uncontrolled DLL loading path vulnerability exists in AsusSoftwareManagerAgent." With this, an attacker could mess with the app, "potentially resulting in arbitrary code execution". From here, the attacker could have a pretty serious level of access to your rig.
As shared in the security record, this problem is of high severity, with a score of 8.5. Luckily, attackers need local access, so that certainly makes the exploit a little less worrisome. In this case, that severity is likely linked to how dire access would be, as opposed to how easy it is to pull off, as needing local access cuts out 99% of the world from your rig.
This vulnerability affects 64-bit machines before update v3.1.49.0 or before v1.1.37.0 and ARM machines before update v3.2.50.0. If you're looking to update your MyAsus, it should automatically do so via the Microsoft Store.
You can also manually prompt it to get the latest update via the Microsoft Store by booting it up and finding the app. The MyAsus app is a way to maintain your system and update software, and it's something you will find pre-installed in Asus laptops and PCs from the factory floor.
Asus warned users of its Intel motherboards just last month that they are potentially vulnerable to attacks that gain "unintended access to system memory" and would need to update. Like the latest vulnerability, it was of high severity but required local access to do the exploit. In this case, one could use a PCIe device to gain access to system memory between the first boot up and the OS managing DMA operations.
Just a month prior to that, Asus warned users to download updates for the MyAsus app and for its routers, as it had discovered and fixed new vulnerabilities present in both. The problem with issues in the MyAsus app is that potentially millions of users will just have it preinstalled without even thinking about it.
Naturally, flaws and exploits will be caught in software and hardware every day, so this is as good a chance as ever to go through your PC and make sure everything is up-to-date and looking good. You've likely got tonnes of apps that would never see an update if it weren't for automatic update tools, so it can't hurt to get ahead of the curve.
That reminds me, I need to… go do something.