Intel CPUs Hit by ‘Branch Privilege Injection’ Bug: A Comedy of Errors or a Security Nightmare?
Intel CPUs are having a “branch” identity crisis! The new Branch Privilege Injection flaw, CVE-2024-45332, lets attackers sneak a peek at sensitive data from privileged software. Researchers found a way to outsmart Spectre v2 mitigations, proving even CPUs can’t keep a secret. Stay updated, or your CPU might spill the beans!
Hot Take:
Move over, Spectre! There’s a new ghost in town, and it’s called Branch Privilege Injection. Who knew that CPUs could have a meltdown over a little race condition? Time to saddle up your updates and mosey on over to the BIOS saloon before your data decides to take a walk on the wild side.
Key Points:
- Branch Privilege Injection affects all modern Intel CPUs from the ninth generation onward.
- Exploits a race condition in Intel’s branch prediction subsystem.
- The flaw allows non-privileged users to leak data from privileged processes.
- Microcode updates from Intel are available to mitigate the vulnerability.
- ETH Zurich plans to present full exploit details at USENIX Security 2025.
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