[BBLISA] Advice on a firewall Virtual Appliance

[Edward Ned Harvey (bblisa4)]

> From: Matt Finnigan [mailto:mfinnigan at gmail.com]
> 
>  That's not a very compelling argument. I've been at firms that deployed VM-
> based security devices and passed audits.

Well, like I said, I do it myself too.  But from a security standpoint, if you had the option of running a firewall on dedicated hardware as opposed to VM, the hypervisor and other guests on the same hardware can only introduce possible attack vectors.  Not reduce them.  

I know I've certainly seen situations where memory of one VM creeped into another VM, and stuff like that.  So there *are* bugs that are potentially exploitable.  Plus, no sane person could make a blanket statement that hypervisors are bug-free and un-exploitable.  But if you're comfortable with the stability of any other VM running on that hypervisor, there's a good chance you'll be comfortable also, with running the firewall in there.  I know, for most cases, I am comfortable with that.