this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2023
958 points (99.1% liked)

Technology

59490 readers
4161 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
L3s@lemmy.world
L3s@fry.gs
L4s@fry.gs
L4s@lemmy.world
enu@lemmy.world
958
Intel 'Downfall': Severe flaw in billions of CPUs leaks passwords and much more (www.pcworld.com)
submitted 1 year ago by theunmentionable@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
164 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Oh no.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 48 points 1 year ago (3 children)

This vulnerability, identified as CVE-2022-40982, enables a user to access and steal data from other users who share the same computer.

So just continue not letting people use my computer, got it. Very simple fix.

[–] ryannathans@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago

Shared use of servers is probably the main issue

[–] salient_one@lemmy.villa-straylight.social 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It appears that users in this case include agents such as software. A bit confusing for the general public.

For instance, a malicious app obtained from an app store could use the Downfall attack to steal sensitive information like passwords, encryption keys, and private data such as banking details, personal emails, and messages.

—Official website

It can theoretically even be exploited via a browser:

[Q] What about web browsers?

[A] In theory, remotely exploiting this vulnerability from the web browser is possible. In practice, demonstrating successful attacks via web browsers requires additional research and engineering efforts.

—FAQ at the official website

[–] dbilitated@aussie.zone 8 points 1 year ago

I think it also means software running can access other software's memory which is probably bad but personally I'm not keen for that performance hit on my desktop