New security flaw found in Intel CPU architecture

[DynamiteCop 2,084]

Here we go again...

 

 

New security flaw in Intel chips could affect millions

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Intel has revealed another hardware security flaw that could affects millions of machines around the world.

The bug is embedded in the architecture of computer hardware, and it can’t be fully fixed.

“With a large enough data sample, time or control of the target system’s behavior,” the flaw could enable attackers to see data thought to be off-limits, Bryan Jorgensen, Intel’s senior director of product assurance and security, said in a video statement.

But Intel said Tuesday there’s no evidence of anyone exploiting it outside of a research laboratory. “Doing so successfully in the real world is a complex undertaking,” Jorgensen said.

It’s the latest revelation of a hard-to-fix vulnerability affecting processors that undergird smartphones and personal computers. Two bugs nicknamed Spectre and Meltdown set a panic in the tech industry last year.

Intel said it’s already addressed the problem in its newest chips after working for months with business partners and independent researchers. It’s also released code updates to mitigate the risk in older chips, though it can’t be eliminated entirely without switching to newer chips.

Major tech companies Google, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft all released advisories Tuesday to instruct users of their devices and software, many of which rely on Intel hardware, on how to mitigate the vulnerabilities.

As companies and individual citizens increasingly sign their digital lives over to “the cloud” — an industry term for banks of servers in remote data centers — the digital gates and drawbridges keeping millions of people’s data safe have come under increasing scrutiny.

In many cases, those barriers are located at the level of central processing unit, or CPU — hardware that has traditionally seen little attention from hackers. But last year the processor industry was shaken by news that Spectre and Meltdown could theoretically enable hackers to leapfrog those hardware barriers and steal some of the most securely held data on the computers involved.

Although security experts have debated the seriousness of the flaws, they are onerous and expensive to patch, and new vulnerabilities are discovered regularly.

Bogdan Botezatu, director of threat research for security firm Bitdefender, said the latest attack was another reason to question how safe users can really be in the cloud.

“This is a very, very serious type of attack,” Botezatu said. “This makes me personally very, very skeptical about these hardware barriers set in place by CPU vendors.”

Intel said it discovered the flaw on its own, but credited Bitdefender, several other security firms and academic researchers for notifying the company about the problem.

Botezatu said Bitdefender found the flaw because its researchers were increasingly focused on the safety and management of virtual machines, the term for one or more emulated mini-computers that can be spun up inside a larger machine — a key feature of cloud computing.

Source: Washington Post

[Remij 4,666]

This is AMD's time.  Their processors just keep looking better and better every day.  And when the Ryzen 3000 series comes, they're going to be either as fast as Intel or slightly faster, with none of this security BS... and their Threadripper and Epyc CPUs obliterate Intel in price/performance.  They've been slowly but surely gaining server marketshare last year, and this year that's going to accelerate.

 

 

I honestly can't wait to be rid of this 6700K.  I mean, it's a good CPU, but I'm counting the days until Ryzen 3000 is released.  Either the 12 or 16 core SKU.  

[DynamiteCop 2,084]

1 minute ago, Remij_ said:

This is AMD's time.  Their processors just keep looking better and better every day.  And when the Ryzen 3000 series comes, they're going to be either as fast as Intel or slightly faster, with none of this security BS... and their Threadripper and Epyc CPUs obliterate Intel in price/performance.  They've been slowly but surely gaining server marketshare last year, and this year that's going to accelerate.

 

 

I honestly can't wait to be rid of this 6700K.  I mean, it's a good CPU, but I'm counting the days until Ryzen 3000 is released.  Either the 12 or 16 core SKU.  

Same. 

[Teh_Diplomat 2,054]

This include my i5-8300?

[DynamiteCop 2,084]

Just now, Teh_Diplomat said:

This include my i5-8300?

Since Intel has basically been on the same architecture for a decade I would say yes. 

[Remij 4,666]

2 minutes ago, DynamiteCop! said:

Same. 

It's like the stars are aligning for them.  They've got their shit together.

 

Nice new, highly salable architecture.  Solid security.  Core counts through the roof.  Way better prices than the competition... And most importantly.. they've got a solid plan for the future and are executing rather well on it.

 

You can never count Intel out because they are simply massive compared to AMD and have crazy resources (also Jim Keller is now at Intel) but things are looking very good for AMD.

 

You going for a Ryzen 3000 build?

[DynamiteCop 2,084]

2 minutes ago, Remij_ said:

It's like the stars are aligning for them.  They've got their shit together.

 

Nice new, highly salable architecture.  Solid security.  Core counts through the roof.  Way better prices than the competition... And most importantly.. they've got a solid plan for the future and are executing rather well on it.

 

You can never count Intel out because they are simply massive compared to AMD and have crazy resources (also Jim Keller is now at Intel) but things are looking very good for AMD.

 

You going for a Ryzen 3000 build?

Yes, I'm also expecting the Radeon division to do Nvidia exactly what they are to Intel with their CPU's. 

 

 

[lynux3 2,042]

I think we can safely assume this is where Intel gets their IPC gains... by cutting corners. With each new vulnerability patch performance is lost. Hell, Google, IBM, Apple, etc. are all now recommending disabling Hyper-Threading. What a shit show.

Edited May 15, 2019 by lynux3

[lynux3 2,042]

21 minutes ago, Teh_Diplomat said:

This include my i5-8300?

Yeah... these vulnerabilities go further back than that.

[TLHBO 2,158]

Doesn't intel still vastly outperform amd? I was looking at benchmarks recently and it always seemed to be I9 at the top followed by i7

[lynux3 2,042]

25 minutes ago, TLHBO said:

Doesn't intel still vastly outperform amd? I was looking at benchmarks recently and it always seemed to be I9 at the top followed by i7

Not really. Only thing Intel has is single threaded performance and that might disappear entirely when Zen 2 launches.

[DynamiteCop 2,084]

9 minutes ago, lynux3 said:

Not really. Only thing Intel has is single threaded performance and that might disappear entirely when Zen 2 launches.

It's basically gone now, price for price the IPC is in AMD's favor and now they have a range of CPU's which challenge Intel's entire line. With Zen 2 unless Intel is cooking up some type of magic they're basically fucked. 

[Remij 4,666]

4 hours ago, DynamiteCop! said:

Yes, I'm also expecting the Radeon division to do Nvidia exactly what they are to Intel with their CPU's. 

 

 

Ehh... I wouldn't bet the bank on that.  AMD doesn't have a Jim Keller of the GPU world...

 

But you never know.

[TLHBO 2,158]

2 hours ago, lynux3 said:

Not really. Only thing Intel has is single threaded performance and that might disappear entirely when Zen 2 launches.

But the benchmarks....

 

I'll have to double check. Considering a new PC soon so I want something powerful for future proofing.

[lynux3 2,042]

19 minutes ago, TLHBO said:

But the benchmarks....

 

I'll have to double check. Considering a new PC soon so I want something powerful for future proofing.

If you aren't itching to build one real soon I would hold off until we start seeing benchmarks with the Ryzen 3000 series. We should start seeing those benchmark within the next couple of months. Computex is right around the corner so a lot will be revealed there.

Edited May 15, 2019 by lynux3

[lostfool 680]

Yawn

[TLHBO 2,158]

6 hours ago, lynux3 said:

If you aren't itching to build one real soon I would hold off until we start seeing benchmarks with the Ryzen 3000 series. We should start seeing those benchmark within the next couple of months. Computex is right around the corner so a lot will be revealed there.

yeah I'm probably gonna wait until the next generation of cards.

 

It's amazing how well cpus have lasted though. Guess it helps with ps4/xflop having potatoes inside them.