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More Processor Vulnerabilities

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Intel and AMD can’t seem to catch a break as researchers discover another vulnerability that exposes CPUs to a hack that would compromise user data.

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Even more vulnerabilities found…

[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”22px”][vc_column_text]Security researchers from Cuba and Finland have recently discovered a side-channel attack known as PortSmash. This is an attack vector that affects Intel’s CPUs, including CPUs that run on the Skylake and Kaby Lake architectures. The vulnerability exists on chipsets that use Intels simultaneous multithreading (SMT) architecture and could let attackers access encrypted data processed on a computer running these CPUs. Interestingly enough, this hack could also affect AMD chips in addition to Intel chips with Hyper-Threading technology. This comes merely months after the discovery of the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”22px”][vc_column_text]According to the researchers, Intel was notified of the vulnerability at the beginning of October. However, the chip-maker did not have a patch ready until the end of the month.

What makes this interesting is that it happened to be the same day that a proof-of-concept code was published on Github to show how the attack would work on Intel’s Skylake and Kaby Lake architectures.

In the release, the researchers demonstrated that in order for PortSmash to work, the malicious code must run on the same PC using the vulnerable CPU and using the same processor core as the original and legitimate code.

In an interview to The Register, Billy Brumley, security researcher, and one of the research paper’s authors, said that they “detect[ed] port contention to construct a timing side channel to exfiltrate information from processes running in parallel on the same physical core.”

By design, SMT and Intel’s Hyper-Threading technology allow for codes to run on separate threads simultaneously using the same processor core. This delivers greater efficiency, as more code can be executed at the same time.

However, code executed on one thread can observe the execution of code on the other thread. With this, an attacker could inject malicious code to run in simultaneously with a legitimate code and eavesdrop on the processor and whatever it is executing.

In this case, the malicious code would leak out bits of encrypted data that it observed from the legitimate process. This can then allow an attacker to reconstruct the encrypted data from the leak.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”22px”][vc_column_text]

This hack is not far off from others…

[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”22px”][vc_column_text]This type of hack is becoming more and more popular and it is important to note why.

In a previous blog/article, we discussed the, relatively new video game console, Nintendo Switch exploit. CPU hacking can be increasingly difficult to patch because it was a hardware based hack or relies on the way that a processor operates, which is often closely tied to the way it is cast in silicone. Luckily, it seems like the patch Intel has produced, a software patch, will solve the issue but, like the patches for the previous CPU exploits, it will have an effect on processor efficiencies. Though it is not yet clear if this particular hack would effect processor speeds and power consumptions to the degree the Meltdown and Spectre exploit patches did.

In a statement, Intel said that they “expect that it [the exploit] is not unique to Intel platforms. Research on side-channel analysis methods often focuses on manipulating and measuring the characteristics, such as timing, of shared hardware resources. Software or software libraries can be protected against such issues by employing side channel safe development practices. Protecting our customers’ data and ensuring the security of our products is a top priority for Intel and we will continue to work with customers, partners, and researchers to understand and mitigate any vulnerabilities that are identified.”[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”22px”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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