Single Instruction Multiple Data Leaks in Cutting-edge CPUs, AKA Downfall

We introduce Downfall attacks, new transient execution attacks that undermine the security of computers running everywhere across the internet. We exploit the "Gather" instruction on high-performance Intel CPUs to leak data across boundaries of user-kernel, processes, virtual machines, and trusted execution environments. Our findings, exploitation techniques, and demonstrated attacks defeat all previous defenses, calling for critical hardware fixes and security updates for widely-used client and server computers.

In this talk, we first discuss the SIMD Gather instruction, how to exploit …

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