Security researchers said that the Specter vulnerability had begun to pose a threat to Intel and Arm processors again. However, the new report shared by Intel now says that AMD users can also fall victim to the Specter V2 (Spectre-BHB) vulnerability.
The new vulnerability affecting Intel and ARM processors has spread to Specter-BHB AMD models. According to the report by Intel’s IPAS STORM security team, the update AMD used to fix Specter v2 vulnerabilities has been ineffective since 2018. Intel claimed that AMD’s vulnerability updates were both inaccurate and ineffective.
Specter vulnerability risk for AMD users
To remind you, Specter vulnerabilities were detailed by the research group VUSec, which collaborated with Intel the other day. The new Specter, which managed to infiltrate the processor to run the unauthorized code sequence as a security measure; It was affecting Intel 12th Gen (Alder Lake) and ARM processors. However, AMD also seems to have had its share of this vulnerability.
AMD originally suggested using an alternative method to mitigate the Specter vulnerabilities, but it probably realized that previous updates were ineffective. New research by IPAS STORM revealed that the update “CVE-2017-5715” offered by AMD is still insufficient for the Specter V2 vulnerability.
Working on alternative techniques to counter the impact of Specter V2, Intel discovered that the updates AMD has been using since 2018 to fix Specter vulnerabilities were not effective. AMD specifically relied on the “LFENCE/JMP” code sequence, but Intel explained that it wasn’t enough to stop Specter v2 attacks.
Named Specter-BHB by researchers when it was first discovered, BHI stands for Branch History Injection. According to the researchers’ report, there is a proof-of-concept vulnerability to infiltrate the core memory of processors with BHI.
Earlier studies said that all Intel processors released from 2013 onwards could be affected by this hazard. On the Arm side, there was a hazard for Cortex A15, A57, A72 and Neoverse V1, N1 and N2 cores. It is unclear for now which AMD processors are at risk.
Do not forget to share your thoughts about the Specter V2 vulnerability affecting AMD processors in the comments section or on the SDN Forum.
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