Researchers have found two novel types of attacks that target the conditional branch predictor found in high-end Intel processors, which could be exploited to compromise billions of processors currently in use.

cross-posted from: https://infosec.pub/post/11554206

Researchers have found two novel types of attacks that target the conditional branch predictor found in high-end Intel processors, which could be exploited to compromise billions of processors currently in use.

  • AutoTL;DRBEnglish
    4•6 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    The multi-university and industry research team led by computer scientists at University of California San Diego will present their work at the 2024 ACM ASPLOS Conference that begins tomorrow.

    Previous attacks have exploited this mechanism by analyzing entries in these tables to discern recent branch tendencies at specific addresses.

    In this new study, researchers leverage modern predictors’ utilization of a Path History Register (PHR) to index prediction tables.

    Despite the PHR typically retaining the most recent 194 branches, the researchers present an advanced technique to recover a significantly longer history.

    “This manipulation leads the victim to execute unintended code paths, inadvertently exposing its confidential data,” said UC San Diego computer science Professor Dean Tullsen.

    The team presents a proof-of-concept where they force an encryption algorithm to transiently exit earlier, resulting in the exposure of reduced-round ciphertext.

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