Amd zen discover collide + probe and load + reload vulnerabilities

A new document released by Graz University of Technology details two new attacks, Collide + Probe and Load + Reload, which can leak secret data from AMD processors by manipulating the L1D cache predictor. The researchers claim that the vulnerability affects all AMD processors from 2011 to 2019, which means that the Zen microarchitecture is also affected.

Collide + Probe and Load + Reload are new vulnerabilities discovered in all AMD Zen processors

The university says it disclosed the vulnerabilities to AMD on August 23, 2019, which means it was responsibly disclosed, but there is no word on a solution yet.

We've gotten used to news of Intel's new vulnerabilities seemingly being revealed every week, but other processor architectures, such as AMD and ARM, have also been affected by some vulnerabilities, albeit to a lesser extent.

In any case, we expect AMD architectures to receive more attention from researchers as the company gains more prominence in the semiconductor market.

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As we've seen in many of the recent attacks on modern processors, AMD's two vulnerabilities focus on side-channel approaches, in this case a Specter-based attack, which allows researchers to discover what would normally be protected information.

This is how she would function, according to the Graz University of Technology:

The document suggests several 'patches' for the vulnerability through a combined software and hardware approach, but there is no speculation about the performance impact this would have. We will keep you informed.

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