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Crypto hack: Intel and AMD CPUs at risk

 


Researchers discovered a vulnerability in Intel and AMD CPUs. Criminals could use the vulnerability to obtain cryptographic keys.


According to researchers at the University of Texas Austin, the University of Illinois and the University of Washington, a CPU vulnerability called "Hertzbleed" could enable "side-channel attacks". Criminals could use it to steal your crypto keys .


CPUs from the two chip giants Intel and AMD are affected. This includes Intel desktop and laptop models of the eighth to eleventh generation of the Core microarchitecture and AMD Ryzen chips of the desktop and laptop models of the Zen 2 and Zen 3 microarchitecture.


Tom's Hardware reported the vulnerability. Both Intel and AMD have issued recommendations regarding this issue.


Hertzbleed Attack

Hertzbleed is a new type of side channel attack called Frequency Side Channel (hence the name Hertz and the data bleeding). The research paper on this approach states:


"At worst, these attacks could allow an attacker to extract cryptographic keys from remote servers that were previously thought to be secure."


In a Hertzbleed attack, criminals observe the performance signature of a cryptographic workload and use it to steal the data. This performance signature varies due to the CPU's dynamic boost clock frequency adjustments during the workload, reports Tom's Hardware.


Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS) is a feature of modern processors used to reduce power consumption. So the vulnerability is not a bug. Attackers can track changes in power consumption by monitoring the time it takes a server to respond to specific requests.


"Hertzbleed is a real and practical threat to the security of cryptographic software ," the researchers said.

In 2020 we already reported on the discovery of a vulnerability in Intel's SGX (Software Guard Extension), which could also lead to side channel attacks and compromised crypto keys .

Is there a solution?

Intel and AMD currently have no plans to provide firmware patches to mitigate the Hertzbleed issue. However, there are already solutions to the problem.


According to the chip manufacturers, Hertzbleed can be bypassed by disabling the frequency increase. On Intel CPUs, this feature is called “Turbo Boost” and on AMD chips, it’s called “Turbo Core” or “Precision Boost”. However, this is likely to affect the performance of the processor, it said.


According to Jerry Bryant, senior director of security communications and incident response at Intel, this attack is impractical outside of a lab environment. Among other things, because it would take “hours to days” to steal a cryptographic key. Bryant added that " cryptographic implementations secured against side-channel power-targeting hacks are not vulnerable to this issue ."


Disclaimer

All information contained on our website has been researched to the best of our knowledge and belief. The journalistic contributions are for general information purposes only. Any action taken by the reader based on the information found on our website is entirely at their own risk.

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