AMD Chips in Hot Water: New Side-Channel Attack Threat Looms
AMD is warning users about the Transient Scheduler Attack (TSA), a side-channel attack affecting various AMD chips. While rated low to medium in severity, experts still consider the threat critical. The attack requires complex execution, needing an attacker to run arbitrary code on a machine, but could lead to data leaks.
Hot Take:
Move over, Meltdown and Spectre, there’s a new villain in town, and it goes by the name of Transient Scheduler Attack (TSA). AMD’s chips are getting a side-channel sneak peek, but don’t worry, this isn’t a Marvel-level threat. It’s more like a well-behaved cat burglar who needs explicit permission to enter your house and still struggles to find the silverware. But hey, better safe than sorry, so patch those chips and show TSA the exit!
Key Points:
- AMD warns about Transient Scheduler Attack (TSA) affecting its chips.
- Four vulnerabilities discovered, with two rated medium and two low severity.
- Despite low severity ratings, TSA deemed “critical” by Trend Micro and CrowdStrike.
- Attack requires running arbitrary code on target machine with local access.
- AMD chips affected include EPYC, Ryzen, Instinct, and Athlon-series.