The ME firmware includes a Java VM so that other companies can run their secret apps inside the ME's environment (e.g. DRM crypto plugins). That is just one example of all the features included in the ME firmware, and none of it is published or well documented, much less audited at the source level by an independent third party.
The ME is very alarming, and seems to only become more alarming the closer you look at what it is designed to do.
And any code running there can read and write your RAM as it pleases because "ME is secure and obviously nothing bad can ever happen there so there's no reason to protect other things from the ME".
The ME is very alarming, and seems to only become more alarming the closer you look at what it is designed to do.