Specter deficiency, a confusing new vulnerability that avoids existing patches

The spectral split returns to the center position. A new way to use its basic process has now been invented and ensures that it is complex to adjust without having much impact on the performance of the processors.

Computer security researchers at the Universities of Virginia and San Diego have discovered a new vulnerability in the context of well-documented spectrum deficiency, which, as a reminder, uses predictive calculations that improve the performance of modern processors to access changes in the memory system.

This vulnerability is worrying as it escapes all the patches and other vulnerabilities that have been made so far by manufacturers and publishers. It may consider all x86 processors made by AMD or Intel.

In order to function, these processors typically break down complex algorithms into smaller RISC-like functions, called “micro apps”, and they facilitate background processing. The micro-operations where the detected vulnerability is located have their own cache area.

In their article entitled “I see dead ops”, The researchers describe the exploitation of synchronous channels based on the cache storage of micro apps in three main contexts: when the code is executed within the same logical center, but at different privilege levels; When simultaneously implemented in different texts within the same physics center; And in the context of unstable attacks that can access the cache of micro apps by avoiding hardware and software security and limitations.

Reefs that have an impact on performance

At present, just because there is nothing to counter attacks that can be carried out by exploiting this flaw, does not mean that processor manufacturers can do anything to mitigate the risks. AMD and Intel are already making corrections. However, performance in the context of these future reefs – again – could be severely affected.

In fact, since the problem is located in a small cache area, the adopted solutions can have very strong effects on the performance of the processors. After all, this is what researchers fear. Needless to say, the solutions of AMD and Intel will be explored during their respective deployments to see if these manufacturers have succeeded in finding a better way to control the risk of attack while preserving the performance of their chips.