Security News

New Noise-Resilient Attack On Intel and AMD CPUs Makes Flush-based Attacks Effective
2020-05-30 03:32

Modern Intel and AMD processors are susceptible to a new form of side-channel attack that makes flush-based cache attacks resilient to system noise, newly published research shared with The Hacker News has revealed. It also works seamlessly against non-Linux Operating Systems, like macOS. "Like any other cache attacks, flush based cache attacks rely on the calibration of cache latency," Biswabandan Panda, assistant professor at IIT Kanpur, told The Hacker News.

AMD dials 911, emits DMCA takedowns after miscreant steals a load of GPU hardware blueprints, leaks on GitHub
2020-03-26 19:10

On Wednesday, AMD confirmed intellectual property related to its graphics processors was stolen last year, though insisted the leaked files will not damage its business nor compromise product security. Two days ago, AMD issued two Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notices to GitHub, directing the Microsoft-owned code storage biz to remove five repositories - an original repo and four copies - that contained confidential internal hardware source code for its Navi family of GPUs.

AMD Confirms Hacker Stole Information on Graphics Products
2020-03-26 15:01

AMD has confirmed that a hacker has stolen files related to some of its graphics products, but the company says it's not too concerned about the impact of the leak. A hacker who uses the online moniker "Palesa" claims to have obtained source code files related to several AMD graphics processing units, including the Navi 10 architecture, which is used in some Radeon RX 5000-series graphics cards, the upcoming Navi 21, and Arden.

AMD, boffins clash over chip data-leak claims: New side-channel holes in decades of cores, CPU maker disagrees
2020-03-09 21:10

AMD processors sold between 2011 and 2019 are vulnerable to two side-channel attacks that can extract kernel data and secrets, according to a new research paper. In a paper [PDF] titled, "Take A Way: Exploring the Security Implications of AMD's Cache Way Predictors," six boffins - Moritz Lipp, Vedad Hadžić, Michael Schwarz, and Daniel Gruss, Clémentine Maurice, and Arthur Perais - explain how they reverse-engineered AMD's L1D cache way predictor to expose sensitive data in memory.

A decade's worth of AMD chips offer data takeaway via a side channel but AMD yawns and says 'meh, not an issue'
2020-03-09 21:10

AMD processors sold between 2011 and 2019 are vulnerable to two side-channel attacks that can extract kernel data and secrets, according to a new research paper. In a paper [PDF] titled, "Take A Way: Exploring the Security Implications of AMD's Cache Way Predictors," six boffins - Moritz Lipp, Vedad Hadžić, Michael Schwarz, and Daniel Gruss, Clémentine Maurice, and Arthur Perais - explain how they reverse-engineered AMD's L1D cache way predictor to expose sensitive data in memory.

AMD Downplays CPU Threat Opening Chips to Data Leak Attacks
2020-03-09 15:41

AMD is seeking to downplay side-channel attacks that can leak potentially sensitive data from its processors released between 2011 and 2019. AMD this weekend said it does not believe these are "New speculation-based attacks" and did not offer any mitigations: "We are aware of a new white paper that claims potential security exploits in AMD CPUs, whereby a malicious actor could manipulate a cache-related feature to potentially transmit user data in an unintended way," said AMD in a Saturday advisory.

AMD Downplays CPU Threat Opening Chips to Data Leak Attacks
2020-03-09 15:41

AMD is seeking to downplay side-channel attacks that can leak potentially sensitive data from its processors released between 2011 and 2019. AMD this weekend said it does not believe these are "New speculation-based attacks" and did not offer any mitigations: "We are aware of a new white paper that claims potential security exploits in AMD CPUs, whereby a malicious actor could manipulate a cache-related feature to potentially transmit user data in an unintended way," said AMD in a Saturday advisory.

Researchers Disclose Two New Attacks Against AMD CPUs
2020-03-09 14:51

Researchers have identified two new methods for attacking AMD processors, but they are not as dangerous as some of the previously disclosed CPU attacks. The Collide+Probe attack can also be launched remotely via a web browser without user interaction, which the experts have shown through an attack on ASLR. "We evaluated our new attack techniques in different scenarios. We established a high-speed covert channel and utilized it in a Spectre attack to leak secret data from the kernel," the researchers said.

9 Years of AMD Processors Vulnerable to 2 New Side-Channel Attacks
2020-03-09 07:20

AMD processors from as early as 2011 to 2019 carry previously undisclosed vulnerabilities that open them to two new different side-channel attacks, according to a freshly published research. Known as "Take A Way," the new potential attack vectors leverage the L1 data cache way predictor in AMD's Bulldozer microarchitecture to leak sensitive data from the processors and compromise the security by recovering the secret key used during encryption.

9 Years of AMD Processors Vulnerable to 2 New Side-Channel Attacks
2020-03-09 07:20

AMD processors from as early as 2011 to 2019 carry previously undisclosed vulnerabilities that open them to two new different side-channel attacks, according to a freshly published research. Known as "Take A Way," the new potential attack vectors leverage the L1 data cache way predictor in AMD's Bulldozer microarchitecture to leak sensitive data from the processors and compromise the security by recovering the secret key used during encryption.