Latest CPU news

New Spectre v2 attack impacts Linux systems on Intel CPUs

Researchers have demonstrated the "first native Spectre v2 exploit" for a new speculative execution side-channel flaw that impacts Linux systems running on many modern Intel processors.
- Bill Toulas
- April 10, 2024
- 01:19 PM
- 2
New ZenHammer memory attack impacts AMD Zen CPUs

Academic researchers developed ZenHammer, the first variant of the Rowhammer DRAM attack that works on CPUs based on recent AMD Zen microarchitecture that map physical addresses on DDR4 and DDR5 memory chips.
- Bill Toulas
- March 25, 2024
- 12:00 PM
- 0
New GoFetch attack on Apple Silicon CPUs can steal crypto keys

A new side-channel attack called "GoFetch" impacts Apple M1, M2, and M3 processors and can be used to steal secret cryptographic keys from data in the CPU's cache.
- Bill Toulas
- March 22, 2024
- 11:01 AM
- 2
New SLAM attack steals sensitive data from AMD, future Intel CPUs

Academic researchers developed a new side-channel attack called SLAM that exploits hardware features designed to improve security in upcoming CPUs from Intel, AMD, and Arm to obtain the root password hash from the kernel memory.
- Bill Toulas
- December 06, 2023
- 07:52 PM
- 0
New Reptar CPU flaw impacts Intel desktop and server systems

Intel has fixed a high-severity CPU vulnerability in its modern desktop, server, mobile, and embedded CPUs, including the latest Alder Lake, Raptor Lake, and Sapphire Rapids microarchitectures.
- Sergiu Gatlan
- November 14, 2023
- 06:15 PM
- 1
New CacheWarp AMD CPU attack lets hackers gain root in Linux VMs

A new software-based fault injection attack, CacheWarp, can let threat actors hack into AMD SEV-protected virtual machines by targeting memory writes to escalate privileges and gain remote code execution.
- Sergiu Gatlan
- November 14, 2023
- 03:34 PM
- 2
New Downfall attacks on Intel CPUs steal encryption keys, data

A senior research scientist at Google has devised new CPU attacks to exploit a vulnerability dubbed Downfall that affects multiple Intel microprocessor families and allows stealing passwords, encryption keys, and private data like emails, messages, or banking info from users that share the same computer.
- Ionut Ilascu
- August 08, 2023
- 01:00 PM
- 4
New Inception attack leaks sensitive data from all AMD Zen CPUs

Researchers have discovered a new and powerful transient execution attack called 'Inception' that can leak privileged secrets and data using unprivileged processes on all AMD Zen CPUs, including the latest models.
- Bill Toulas
- August 08, 2023
- 11:00 AM
- 5
New Collide+Power side-channel attack impacts almost all CPUs

A new software-based power side-channel attack called 'Collide+Power' was discovered, impacting almost all CPUs and potentially allowing data to leak. However, the researchers warn that the flaw is low-risk and will likely not be used in attacks on end users.
- Bill Toulas
- August 02, 2023
- 01:37 PM
- 1
Hot Pixels attack checks CPU temp, power changes to steal data

A team of researchers at Georgia Tech, the University of Michigan, and Ruhr University Bochum have developed a novel attack called "Hot Pixels," which can retrieve pixels from the content displayed in the target's browser and infer the navigation history.
- Bill Toulas
- May 27, 2023
- 10:08 AM
- 1
Intel CPUs vulnerable to new transient execution side-channel attack

A new side-channel attack impacting multiple generations of Intel CPUs has been discovered, allowing data to be leaked through the EFLAGS register.
- Bill Toulas
- April 24, 2023
- 03:38 PM
- 0
Microsoft releases Windows security updates for Intel CPU flaws

Microsoft has released out-of-band security updates for 'Memory Mapped I/O Stale Data (MMIO)' information disclosure vulnerabilities in Intel CPUs.
- Lawrence Abrams
- March 02, 2023
- 08:02 PM
- 3
New Retbleed speculative execution CPU attack bypasses Retpoline fixes

Security researchers have discovered a new speculative execution attack called Retbleed that affects processors from both Intel and AMD and could be used to extract sensitive information.
- Ionut Ilascu
- July 14, 2022
- 03:13 AM
- 0
New Google Chrome feature reduces CPU use to extend battery life

Google is testing a new 'Quick Intensive Throttling' feature that reduces CPU time by 10%, extending the battery life for laptops and mobile devices.
- Lawrence Abrams
- July 10, 2022
- 11:05 AM
- 0
New Hertzbleed side-channel attack affects Intel, AMD CPUs

A new side-channel attack known as Hertzbleed allows remote attackers to steal full cryptographic keys by observing variations in CPU frequency enabled by dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS).
- Sergiu Gatlan
- June 14, 2022
- 03:55 PM
- 1
New PACMAN hardware attack targets Macs with Apple M1 CPUs

A new hardware attack targeting Pointer Authentication in Apple M1 CPUs with speculative execution enables attackers to gain arbitrary code execution on Mac systems.
- Sergiu Gatlan
- June 10, 2022
- 03:15 PM
- 0
UK sanctions Russian microprocessor makers, banning them from ARM

The UK government added 63 Russian entities to its sanction list on Wednesday. Among them are Baikal Electronics and MCST (Moscow Center of SPARC Technologies), the two most important chip makers in Russia.
- Bill Toulas
- May 07, 2022
- 11:12 AM
- 0
AMD confirms GPU driver bug overclocks CPUs without permission

AMD is investigating an issue in its GPU software suite that causes an auto-adjustment of AMD Ryzen CPU performance settings for users without permission.
- Bill Toulas
- April 06, 2022
- 09:53 AM
- 0
High severity BIOS flaws affect numerous Intel processors

Intel has released an advisory to confirm the existence of two high-severity vulnerabilities that affect a wide range of Intel processor families.
- Bill Toulas
- November 15, 2021
- 12:15 PM
- 2
Windows 11 KB5006746 update fixes gaming performance issues

Microsoft has released the optional KB5006746 cumulative update preview for Windows 11, fixing sixty-four issues, including AMD CPU performance and gaming issues.
- Lawrence Abrams
- October 21, 2021
- 02:40 PM
- 1