A new vulnerability affecting Intel and AMD processors has been identified by researchers at the University of ETH Zurich. The new vulnerability, called ‘Retbleed’, which primarily affects older processors, could lead to sensitive user information being compromised.
Shared fixes affect processor performance
A type of “ghost” vulnerability, Retbleed allows the next instruction address executed by the processor to be predicted and executed automatically before the prediction is confirmed.
According to the shared, such vulnerabilities have been known since 2018 and chip manufacturers have taken mitigating steps. But in a research paper published today, PhD student Johannes Wikner and ETH Zurich computer security professor Kaveh Razavi reported that three- to six-year-old Intel and AMD processes, including Zen 3, are potentially vulnerable to Retbleed.
Analyzing Intel and AMD’s efforts to resolve the issue, Wikner and Razavi noted that the solutions had an impact on performance and said, “Unfortunately, this comes with a significant performance cost that makes the computer 12-28% slower.” made the statement.
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