Some of the computer security boffins who revealed last year's data-leaking speculative-execution holes have identified yet another side-channel attack that can bypass security protections in modern systems.
While side channel attacks like Spectre and Meltdown exploited chip design flaws to glean privileged information, this one is hardware agnostic, involves the Windows and Linux operating system page cache, and can be exploited remotely, within limits.
In a paper provided to The Register in advance of distribution early next week through ArXiv, researchers from Graz University of Technology, Boston University, NetApp, CrowdStrike, and Intel – Daniel Gruss, Erik Kraft, Trishita Tiwari, Michael Schwarz, Ari Trachtenberg, Jason Hennessey, Alex Ionescu, and Anders Fogh – describe a way to monitor how certain processes access memory through the operating system page cache.
"We present a set of local attacks that work entirely without any timers, utilizing operating system calls (mincore on Linux and QueryWorkingSetEx on Windows) to elicit page cache information," wrote the researchers. "We also show that page cache metadata can leak to a remote attacker over a network channel, producing a stealthy covert channel between a malicious local sender process and an external attacker."
(Score: 4, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday January 07 2019, @09:13PM (2 children)
Fucking tech reporters. I come looking for a remotely exploitable bug and find out they meant remotely exploitable if you've already gained access to run arbitrary code on the box. My fridge is not remotely exploitable if it requires another person or machine inside my house to throw beers from the fridge out the window to the attacker.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday January 07 2019, @11:39PM (1 child)
Did you take tips from Tim the Toolman Taylor? 'cause I don't think your Refrigerator is supposed to be throwing things.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday January 08 2019, @01:35AM
No, but I'd happily give either Lisa or Heidi a tip of my own.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.