VIA processors probably make up an infinitesimal amount of the desktop PC market-share, and its makers market the chip only at pre-built machines such as digital-signage kiosks, information kiosks, ticket vending machines, ATMs, etc (which don't need a lot of processing power). At the Black Hat 2018 conference, security researcher Christopher Domas discovered that getting access to root privileges in Linux on a machine powered by VIA C3 "Nehemiah" processors is laughably easy. Just key in ".byte 0x0f, 0x3f" (without quotes) in any Linux CLI in user mode, and voila! You are now the root user.

Domas calls this his own iddqd (the cheat-code for "God Mode" in "Doom"). This backdoor, probably put in place by the processor's designers themselves, completely collapses the ring-based privilege system of the operating system, and elevates users and applications from the ring-2 (and above) userspace to ring 0 (root). It is an exploitation of a shadow-core, a hidden RISC processor within C7, which manages the startup, operation, and key storage of the x86 cores. Intel and AMD too have shadow-cores with similar functions.

Well, it was bound to happen sooner rather than later. As the gaming market has become increasingly bigger and moving more and more amounts of money, someone, somewhere, would find a way to generate more revenue out of some new product. Gaming has become big enough so as to justify college scholarships and even companies that promise to coach players on their way to better K/D ratios. Why not join two of the bigger, more relevant emerging markets in one? Enter GodMode, a supplement that seems to marry Herbalife-like products with the looks of almost any gaming-oriented piece of hardware. Why not? The supplements market is a $41 billion affair, after all.

The product, introduced to the market by Boss Level Labs out of Frisco, Texas, is aimed specifically at gamers. The pills are packed with 14 "brain-boosting nootropics", which should improve cognitive functions in healthy adults. Besides promising to "supercharge your memory", "improve your reaction speed 6-10%" and help you "think faster/smarter", the God Mode pills are being touted as even being able to "reduce stress and anxiety". Maybe by reducing your anger at someone destroying your K/D ratio? Particularly frisky, evil players that look to teabag your beloved gaming character?