CPU Vulnerabilities, Meltdown and Spectre, Kernel Page Table Isolation Patches, and more

Intel Disabling TSX On Certain CPUs, Skylake And Coffee Lake Affected wccftech.com | Jun 29, 2021

Intel recently introduced a microcode update to their CPUs earlier this month included in a recent update to it's developer guide. Interestingly, Intel has begun to disable the Transactional Synchronization Extensions (TSX) with this new microcode on certain processor families (on both Windows and Linux) such as Skylake and Coffee Lake CPUs.

How does the removal of TSX by Intel affect general-purpose computing?
When utilizing the TSX, benchmarks of certain workloads showed an increase of as much as 40% more efficiency and four to five times faster database transactions. By removing the extension, there will be a mild drop in the CPU's processing if you are someone that is using these workloads and update to the latest microcode.

Website Phoronix reports that Intel has been aware of the issue as far back as 2018. With the rollout of this new microcode in the Linux 5.14 cycle patches, they are not only repairing security issues but also starting to disable TSX.

 

Yet another reason to never update anything if you don't know what the update contains or if what you already have is working fine.

 

Amd's sorts of Plundervolt?

"By manipulating the input voltage to AMD systems on a chip (SoCs), we induce an error in the read-only memory (ROM) bootloader of the AMD-SP, allowing us to gain full control over this root-of-trust," the paper says. "This type of attack is commonly referred to as voltage fault injection attacks."

AMD and researchers spar over shocking attack's real-world dangers windowscentral.com | Aug 24,2021

The security of AMD SEV (Secure Encrypted Virtualization) is in question, as researchers claim they've exposed a critical weakness. However, AMD disagrees that the matter holds much weight.

AMD replied that this is not a remote attack scenario, casting doubt over the real-world utility of the attack. However, the researchers came back with a statement. When speaking to TechRadar Pro, Robert Buhren, one of the paper's authors, pointed out that "no physical tampering with machines in the data center is required" and that the threat posed by a voltage fault injection attack is very much real.

Furthermore, Buhren highlighted that the vulnerability being unrelated to firmware means that firmware updates can't stop it, making it even more dangerous. AMD has yet to publicly reply to the updated researcher response.

 

How many years ago did I predict this? 'Insert manufacturer you love here' will never be vulnerable! Not! Lol...

 

Every manufacturer have undiscovered vulnerabilities, even AMD chips are not safe especially from Spectre and other type of attacks and thats already been proven here in this thread

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...atches-and-more.812424/page-134#post-11087696

Nothing is ever completely safe

 

This vulnerability only afects EPYC, FWIW.

 

Exactly.

After Razer, SteelSeries Software Also Hit by Zero-Day Vulnerability, SteelSeries Responds (Update) tomshardware.com

0-day strikes in SteelSeries Software

 

At this point, I've pretty much stopped caring about security as long as the really important stuff isn't compromised (bank acocunt info, social security info, etc.). I don't store that information anywhere except in my brain anyway. There are too many vulnerabilities out there to keep track of or for me to care about.

I just want the best absolute performance. Minimal security is ok with me as long as the really important stuff isn't compromised.

 

Over the years, I've taken the opposite stance. It doesn't help the situation that rather simple ARM SoCs end up more secure than reasonably recent x86...

 

Personally i dont mind having more security but not at the cost of losing performance nor taking away certain features. With technology there always will be vulnerabilities and its a never ending war.

 

AMD Zen+ & Zen 2 CPUs Vulnerable To Meltdown-Like Cyber Attacks wccftech.com

Researchers Disclose Meltdown-like Vulnerability for AMD Processors (Updated) tomshardware.com - 8 minutes ago

Mitigations require software re-coding

Update, 8/31/2021 7:30am PT: Updated article and title to clarify that the vulnerability applies to all AMD processors, not just the Zen 2 and Zen+ models listed in the research paper.

Original article:
AMD, the company's Zen 2 and Zen+ processors suffer from a new Meltdown-like vulnerability, but the problem appears to be far more wide-ranging. AMD has prepared a guide on mitigating the vulnerability and published details about how the vulnerability works, but the company's security bulletin also notes that all AMD CPUs are vulnerable. Called "Transient Execution of Non-canonical Accesses," this vulnerability acts very similarly to the already-disclosed Meltdown vulnerability that only impacts Intel CPUs.

Saidgani Musaev and Christof Fetzer, researchers from Dresden Technology University, discovered the vulnerabilities in AMD Zen+ and Zen 2 processors. The researchers disclosed the CVE-2020-12965 vulnerability to AMD in October 2020, giving the company enough time to develop a mitigation technique that AMD has addressed in the official paper on Arxiv ( PDF) and AMD's security website.

As a reminder!

 

The reminder... is apt.

 

Don't use so difficult words on the same Yoo forced mee too google it. But I can always learn something from it, LOOL



Edit.
New Ryzen Chipset Driver Patches Security Vulnerabilities

AMD does not state which vulnerabilities were fixed

Not the first time AMD won't bother talk about what's fixed or about their ongoing vulnerability and security flaws.

 

Cybercriminal sells tool to hide malware in AMD, NVIDIA GPUs

It'll be interesting to see what new ways researchers find to embed malicious code. We may have opened Pandora's box with these exploits.

Always new ways. And it won't stop.... See also this thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ts-and-incidents.816109/page-46#post-11116191

 

AMD once again back in the (security vulnerability) spotlight.

AMD Chipset Vulnerability Leaks Passwords, Patch Available tomshardware.com | Sept 17, 2021

AMD originally issued the patch several weeks ago, but without disclosing which vulnerabilities were addressed. This new disclosure answers those questions.

The security researcher first discovered the flaw with Ryzen 2000- and 3000-series platforms, but AMD initially listed only Ryzen 1000 and older chips in its advisory. The researcher noted the discrepancy in his report, and we followed up with AMD about the issue. AMD has since updated the page with a full list of impacted platforms that spans its entire modern consumer processor lineup as well as many older models (list below).

AMD's processors have gained a reputation for being more secure than Intel's chips due to far fewer discovered vulnerabilities. However, as the smaller player with less overall x86 market share, it has long been opined that AMD's processors simply haven't been subject to as much poking and prodding from researchers. Now that AMD has taken a more significant portion of the market and continues to grow it is inevitable that researchers, and nefarious actors, will target the processors more frequently.

Affected AMD Processors

• 2nd Gen AMD Ryzen Mobile Processor with Radeon Graphics
• 2nd Gen AMD Ryzen Threadripper processor
• 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ Processors
• 6th Generation AMD A series CPU with Radeon™ Graphics
• 6th Generation AMD A-Series Mobile Processor
• 6th Generation AMD FX APU with Radeon™ R7 Graphics
• 7th Generation AMD A-Series APUs
• 7th Generation AMD A-Series Mobile Processor
• 7th Generation AMD E-Series Mobile Processor
• AMD A4-Series APU with Radeon Graphics
• AMD A6 APU with Radeon R5 Graphics
• AMD A8 APU with Radeon R6 Graphics
• AMD A10 APU with Radeon R6 Graphics
• AMD 3000 Series Mobile Processors with Radeon™ Graphics
• AMD Athlon 3000 Series Mobile Processors with Radeon™ Graphics
• AMD Athlon Mobile Processors with Radeon™ Graphics
• AMD Athlon X4 Processor
• AMD Athlon™ 3000 Series Mobile Processors with Radeon™ Graphics
• AMD Athlon™ X4 Processor
• AMD E1-Series APU with Radeon Graphics
• AMD Ryzen™ 1000 series Processor
• AMD Ryzen™ 2000 series Desktop Processor
• AMD Ryzen™ 2000 series Mobile Processor
• AMD Ryzen™ 3000 Series Desktop Processor
• AMD Ryzen™ 3000 series Mobile Processor with Radeon™ Graphics
• AMD Ryzen™ 3000 series Mobile Processor
• AMD Ryzen™ 4000 Series Desktop Processor with Radeon™ Graphics
• AMD Ryzen™ 5000 Series Desktop Processor
• AMD Ryzen™ 5000 Series Desktop Processor with Radeon™ Graphics
• AMD Ryzen™ 5000 Series Mobile Processors with Radeon™ Graphics
• AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ PRO Processor
• AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ Processor

 

Microsoft want that you scrap your 3 years old computer for newer to enjoy Win 11. Of course they all want that you shuffle up more cash from you pockets for newer HW.

Say goodbye to DX12 on 4th Gen Haswell CPUs as Intel defused it to fight off security bug neowin.com | Nov 5, 2021

Intel says that some of its integrated GPUs contain a security vulnerability that may allow escalation of privilege. In a bid to mitigate the weakness, Intel decided to disable DirectX 12 API support on Haswell platforms, which naturally means that DirectX 12 games will no longer work on Haswell-based systems that use integrated GPUs. Those who need to run DirectX 12 applications based on the said GPU are advised to downgrade the driver to version 15.40.42.5063 or older.

Yep, the fastest way to push you on new modern HW, just disable features or castrate the performance.

 

I have no words after reading this.

 

Its only disabled on the Intel iGPU...

 

Gosh, no more DX12 on the iGPU? All those low quality at 720p gaming moments will be lost...

 

Yeah as long as Haswell laptops with dGPUs are still are able to run DX12 games, nothing is lost.

 

Haswell iGPU is Gen 7.5 graphics released in 2013, nobody wants to play DX12 on these slow iGPUs. Depending on the exact SKU Haswell only gets 500-1000 points in Firestrike. Iris Xe G7 can go from 3500 to 6000 points depending on the memory and power setting. From the beginning of dx12 only Skylake and newer were really dx12 supported from Intel since Haswell isn't driver supported anymore.

 

AMD Discloses 50 Security Holes Affecting EPYC CPUs, Radeon Drivers tomshardware.com | Today

Someone call a plumber

AMD published three security bulletins yesterday addressing the security vulnerabilities affecting its EPYC processors and the Radeon graphics driver for Windows 10. Although many are marked High severity, they are mitigated with a driver update and AGESA packages.

The chipmaker exposed 22 potential vulnerabilities that affect three generations of EPYC processors: EPYC 7001 (Naples), EPYC 7002 (Rome) and EPYC 7003 (Milan). The exploits specifically target the AMD Platform Security Processor (PSP), AMD System Management Unit (SMU), AMD Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV) and other platform components.

In response to the exploits, AMD distributed the the NaplesPI-SP3_1.0.0.G, RomePI-SP3_1.0.0.C and MilanPI-SP3_1.0.0.4 AGESA updates to its OEM partners. If you're running one of AMD's EPYC chips, you should contact your OEM for the update.


Crucial BIOS update rolling out for Intel 11th Gen, 10th Gen, and more CPUs, fixes LPE bug neowin.com · Nov 11, 2021

Intel has published an updated security advisory for a couple of new LPE bugs that were discovered. A lot of the newer CPUs, except Alder Lake, are vulnerable too. Firmware patches are rolling out....

As far as recommendations, Intel has advised users to update the systems' BIOS to the firmware version that patches the issue. Hence, users should be on the lookout for when their OEMs or motherboard vendors release the patched firmware.

 

Once you flash said firmware, say bye bye to performance

Looking at you Intel and your "fixes"

 

Intel Low-power Chips Hit by New Security Flaw tomshardware | Now 16,2021

Debug mode has 'excessive privileges'

A vulnerability has been revealed in Intel’s Goldmont and Goldmont Plus low-power architectures that could potentially reveal low-level security keys, according to security firm Positive Technologies (via by The Register).

The chips in question are Apollo Lake and Gemini Lake (plus Refresh) Atom, Celeron, and Pentium products. They’re all low-power chips used in embedded systems, mobile devices, and cheap laptops. The Atom E3900 is also found in over 30 cars, including the Tesla Model 3 ( if you believe a guy on Twitter).

 

They do fix the security. What you are mad about is that they should have figured out how to give that performance without the security vulnerabilities from the start.

Same is true with AMD and their PSP issues, trying to do security through obscurity. Etc.

 

Intel, Nvidia, Microsoft Vulnerable to Critical Java Exploit. AMD Unaffected tomshardware.com | Today

Spectre and Meltdown days dejá-vu?

While AMD has announced that its software products are safe from the exploit, Intel listed as many as nine applications that make use of Java that are currently vulnerable.

• Intel Audio Development Kit
• Intel Datacenter Manager
• Intel oneAPI sample browser plugin for Eclipse
• Intel System Debugger
• Intel Secure Device Onboard (mitigation available on GitHub)
• Intel Genomics Kernel Library
• Intel System Studio
• Computer Vision Annotation Tool maintained by Intel
• Intel Sensor Solution Firmware Development Kit

 

A recent Java exploit which we recently reported on, has been used to target HP's server based on AMD's EPYC CPU platform to mine the Raptoreum Cryptocurrency.

HP's AMD EPYC CPU Powered Servers Targeted By Hackers Using Log4J Exploit, Repurposing Them Into Raptoreum Crypto Mining Machines

The report comes from Einnews who reports that HP's 9000 servers based on the AMD EPYC CPU platform were hacked using the Log4J exploit. While we did recently report on the Log4j exploit & how it affects major brands, excluding AMD, it looks like hackers have still managed to slip past the hardware blocks and access a large number of HP servers.

 

Intel have finally removed/abandoned the cancer SGX (software guard extension) from their newer processors. Better late than never. But this won't help the screwed one with older processors as 10th gen and down to Skylake.

Why did Intel abandon SGX?
As a secure enclave technology, SGX was commonly targeted by security researchers who discovered numerous vulnerabilities and attack methods.

Examples of attacks targeting Intel SGX include:

• the Prime+Probe attack discovered in 2017,
• a Spectre-like attack disclosed in 2018,
• an Enclave attack discovered by researchers in 2019,
• a MicroScope replay attack,
• the so-called "Plundervolt" injection attack,
• a Load Value Injection (LVI), and
• the SGAxe attack on the CPU cache resulting in the leak of the enclave's content.

In summary, Intel had more to gain from SGX's deprecation from the perspective of security.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-win-update-bios.831450/page-38#post-11137516

 

Does the 12th gen Intel CPUs still suffer from the performance loss of the Spectre and Meltdown ?

 

I expect without the fixes fuzed into the hardware, this will have a performance hit. And if you can't turn the other fixes off you know you'll left some performance on the table.

See the different gen Intel chips vs. Security Issues. Add in 06_97H for the search for 12th gen and compare with the key-notes.

Affected Processors: Transient Execution Attacks & Related...

Software: Mitigation implemented in software; software updates needed to enable mitigation
Hardware: Mitigation implemented in hardware; no action required to enable mitigation
Hardware + Software: Mitigation implemented in hardware and software updates needed to enable mitigation
MCU: Mitigation implemented in microcode; microcode update available through operating system or BIOS updates
MCU + Software: Mitigation implemented in microcode; software update needed to enable mitigation
Not Affected: Products not affected; no action required
NOTE The latest software can be obtained through operating system or VMM vendors.

Edit. See also
Is It Worthwhile Running Intel Alder Lake With mitigations=off?

 

The benchmarks don't make sense as the results are mixed I don't understand how sometimes with the mitigations ON you get better performance