Dell replacement server motherboards found with malicious code

Boards on new PowerEdge equipment and non-Windows systems not affected.

According to a note on Dell’s company support forum, a small number of PowerEdge R410 replacement motherboards have been found infected with spyware. The company is notifying customers who have purchased the equipment.

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/servers/f/956/t/19339458.aspx

Someone from the company posting under the name “Matt M” wrote in response to a question on the board: “As part of Dell’s quality process, we have identified a potential issue with our service mother board stock, like the one you received for your PowerEdge R410, and are taking preventative action with our customers accordingly.  The potential issue involves a small number of PowerEdge server motherboards sent out through service dispatches that may contain malware.  This malware code has been detected on the embedded server management firmware as you indicated.”

“To date we have received no customer reports related to data security. Systems running non-Windows operating systems are not vulnerable to this malware and this issue is not present on motherboards shipped new with PowerEdge systems.”

The company describes its Dell PowerEdge R410 as “a powerful and ultra-dense 2-socket 1U server that offers the performance of Intel Xeon processor 5500 and 5600 series, DDR3 memory, the availability of up to four hard drives (3.5” or 2.5”)…”

Tom Kelchner