Security News

Critical Intel Flaws Fixed in Active Management Technology
2020-06-10 18:37

The critical flaws exist in Intel's Active Management Technology, which is used for remote out-of-band management of personal computers. The two critical flaws exist in the IPv6 subsystem of AMT. The flaws could potentially enable an unauthenticated user to gain elevated privileges via network access.

CrossTalk: First Speculative Execution Attack Allowing Data Leaks Across Intel CPU Cores
2020-06-10 11:53

Researchers have disclosed the details of a new speculative execution attack affecting many Intel processors, and they say this is the first vulnerability of this kind that allows hackers to obtain sensitive information across the cores of a CPU. The vulnerability was discovered by a team of researchers from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands and ETH Zurich in Switzerland. They initially reported their findings to Intel in September 2018 and nearly one year later they informed the tech giant about the possibility of cross-core leaks.

Intel CPUs Vulnerable to New 'SGAxe' and 'CrossTalk' Side-Channel Attacks
2020-06-10 05:59

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered two distinct attacks that could be exploited against modern Intel processors to leak sensitive information from the CPU's trusted execution environments. The second line of attack, dubbed CrossTalk by researchers from the VU University Amsterdam, enables attacker-controlled code executing on one CPU core to target SGX enclaves running on a completely different core, and determine the enclave's private keys.

'Beyond stupid': Linus Torvalds trashes 5.8 Linux kernel patch over opt-in Intel CPU bug mitigation
2020-06-02 12:19

Linus Torvalds has removed a patch in the next release of the Linux kernel intended to provide additional opt-in mitigation of attacks against the L1 data CPU cache. The patch from AWS engineer Balbir Singh was to provide "An opt-in mechanism to flush the L1D cache on context switch. The goal is to allow tasks that are paranoid due to the recent snoop-assisted data sampling vulnerabilities, to flush their L1D on being switched out. This protects their data from being snooped or leaked via side channels after the task has context switched out."

'Beyond stupid': Linus Torvalds trashes 5.8 Linux kernel patch over opt-in Intel CPU bug mitigation
2020-06-02 12:19

Linus Torvalds has removed a patch in the next release of the Linux kernel intended to provide additional opt-in mitigation of attacks against the L1 data CPU cache. The patch from AWS engineer Balbir Singh was to provide "An opt-in mechanism to flush the L1D cache on context switch. The goal is to allow tasks that are paranoid due to the recent snoop-assisted data sampling vulnerabilities, to flush their L1D on being switched out. This protects their data from being snooped or leaked via side channels after the task has context switched out."

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.

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.

Intel Improves Hardware Shield in New 10th Gen Core vPro Processors
2020-05-13 19:10

Intel on Wednesday announced its new 10th Gen Core vPro processors, which include an enhanced version of Hardware Shield that provides advanced threat detection capabilities. According to Intel, its new Core vPro processors are designed to provide better performance, built-in security features, and fast and reliable connectivity with integrated Wi-Fi 6.

Microsoft, Intel Introduce 'STAMINA' Approach to Malware Detection
2020-05-11 09:53

Microsoft and Intel have been working together on a new approach to malware detection that involves deep learning and the representation of malware as images. Referred to as STAtic Malware-as-Image Network Analysis, the research leverages Intel's previous work on static malware classification through deep transfer learning and applies it to a real-world dataset from Microsoft to determine its practical value.

SAS@home Virtual Summit Showcases New Threat Intel, Industry Changes
2020-04-24 20:44

Topics on the agenda include threat intel on advanced persistent threats, new vulnerability research, and topics related to a post-crisis world - such as how the industry is changing because of the pandemic. "Hiding in Plain Sight: An APT Comes into a Market" on Tuesday will feature Kaspersky researchers Alexey Firsh and Lev Pikman opening the kimono on previously undisclosed threat intelligence regarding a nation-state cybercriminal group.