Another major leak in intel processors

LukeSavenije · May 15, 2019

Sources: Overclock3d, NRC (Dutch), @GoldenLag, @valdyrgramr

Researchers from the VU University Amsterdam have found an extensive data breach that is present in all Intel processors. On Tuesday evening, Intel and VU announced the details of RIDL (Rogue In-Flight Data Load), a vulnerability that allows malicious parties to steal almost all data from computers. Unauthorized persons can view the data that the processor is currently processing. The vulnerability is in all Intel processors of the last ten years - including the very latest. Hackers can exploit the vulnerability by hiding code in a web advertisement.

Spoiler

Van Schaik: „I was busy for an hour but did not advance. I adjusted something in my code and then I saw something strange appear on the screen. Values I did not expect. "

Van Schaik had made a mistake, a bug in a bug, with which he could suddenly watch what happened in another program. It was a bigger and more serious leak than he was actually looking for.

His colleagues and teachers were just as surprised. Together, they wrote more than 20 "exploits" attack scenarios in a short time that would allow hackers to take control of the computer.

One of those tricks: by logging in with an incorrect password, the attacker forces the computer to compare the wrong password with the correct password. This data runs through the 'pipelines' of the chip and can be intercepted, after which the hacker can retrieve the correct password after some tinkering. "You find fragments. As if you are going to get a paper document through the shredder and then reassemble the shreds, ”says Herbert Bos, professor of system and network security at the VU.

AMD is once again not affected by the breach