Safety specialists revealed a new way to hack AMD processors. This is reported by Edition The Register.
Employees of the Dresden Technical University (Germany) Saidgani Musaev and Christoph Fetzer (Christof Fetzer) found out that the protection of many AMD processors can be circumvented with the help of the MeltDown type attack. Hacking is based on the forced exchange of data between microarchitetic elements of chips. The study states that in combination with certain software sequences, AMD processors may temporarily perform non-canonical downloads, which can lead to hacking equipment.
Musaev and Fetzer concluded that AMD components are vulnerable to Meltdown as well as Intel chips and other manufacturers. The Meltdown Vulnerability was described in 2018, then security specialists believed that it only affects the equipment Intel, IBM and ARM. At one time, AMD engineers also argued that their products could not be hacked by means of Meltdown.
The authors clarified that the Zen + and Zen architecture based on the AMD processors can be hacked using the access to the nucleus memory data that “very similar to the MeltDown attack.” At the same time, engineers noted that the method described by them is quite difficult to implement in practice. Musaev and Fetser noted that they found a vulnerability in October 2020, but were in contact with AMD and did not tell about their find to allow the company’s experts to study the problem.
According to AMD representatives, the company has developed a defense method from a new vulnerability by eliminating errors in software.
In mid-August, researchers of Cornell University (USA) talked about the method of hacking AMD processors. Hacking occurs with the AMD Processor (AMD-SP) of the AMD Special Chip. At the same time, it is possible to compromise the data on the PC using physical access to equipment.