The specific vulnerabilities have so far mostly fallen under two broad headings which are now synonymous with these attacks: Spectre and Meltdown. And other side-channel attacks can break through memory permission barriers between software like a Buick through a barn.īecause security is the number one factor in all modern day computing (and unfortunately in some cases, an afterthought), this became a serious potential problem quite quickly. Side-channel attacks on processor speculation, for example, can expose data that wasn’t even intended to be accessed by the program in the first place. But more fundamentally than that, the reason these attacks can occur is down to how the processor is designed. These vectors are based in what are called side-channel attacks: the ability to probe or infer what something else on the processor is doing without actually seeing the workload or its data. A Recap: Spectre and MeltdownĪt the start of 2018, it was announced that two new architecture-based attack vectors had been discovered in modern computer processors. The ultimate goal is for a hardware patch, which is always enabled, that loses zero performance – we’re testing out what the new patches have for us today. When these vulnerabilities were first discovered, they were patched using a combination of software and firmware, which unfortunately led to some performance regressions over an unpatched processor. One of the key aspects of the most recent Intel processor launch, its Core 9 th Generation processors, is that the new design affords some hardware-based protection for a couple of the Spectre and Meltdown family of security vulnerabilities.
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