Which malware rewrites the USB firmware with malicious code that directly interacts with the operating system and installs malicious payload on the target machine?

Which malware rewrites the USB firmware with malicious code that directly interacts with the operating system and installs malicious payload on the target machine?

• A. Disk-based malware
• B. Macro-based malware
• C. USB-based malware
• D. CPU-based malware

Answer: (C)

This is about a firmware-level attack on a USB device. When a USB’s firmware is rewritten with malicious code, the device itself becomes a trusted hardware component that the operating system interacts with at a very low level. That lets the malware directly control how the host sees and uses the device, and it can install a payload onto the target machine by delivering instructions from the USB device or emulating a benign device (like a keyboard) to auto-run commands. This persistence and direct OS interaction come from the firmware being on the USB device itself, not from files on disk or code inside documents. Disk-based malware would modify data on storage media, not the USB device’s firmware. Macro-based malware relies on malicious macros in documents. CPU-based malware targets software running on the processor, not the USB hardware. The behavior described aligns with USB-based malware, such as BadUSB-style attacks, where the USB device’s firmware is the vector.

This is about a firmware-level attack on a USB device. When a USB’s firmware is rewritten with malicious code, the device itself becomes a trusted hardware component that the operating system interacts with at a very low level. That lets the malware directly control how the host sees and uses the device, and it can install a payload onto the target machine by delivering instructions from the USB device or emulating a benign device (like a keyboard) to auto-run commands. This persistence and direct OS interaction come from the firmware being on the USB device itself, not from files on disk or code inside documents.

Disk-based malware would modify data on storage media, not the USB device’s firmware. Macro-based malware relies on malicious macros in documents. CPU-based malware targets software running on the processor, not the USB hardware. The behavior described aligns with USB-based malware, such as BadUSB-style attacks, where the USB device’s firmware is the vector.