Researchers from Core Security Technologies demonstrated a method for patching the BIOS with a small bit of code that gave them conplete control of the machine. The method worked on a Windows machine, a PC running OpenBSD and another running VMware Player. The pair are currently working on a BIOS rootkit to implement the attack. As application and operating system protection mechanisms continue to become more sophisticated, expect to see more and more attacks targeting the hardware and low-level software, where there are still opportunities for success.
Source: https://threatpost.com/researchers-unveil-persistent-bios-attack-methods-031909/72394/