Confidential computing, powered by {hardware} applied sciences equivalent to Intel SGX (Software program Guard Extensions) and AMD SEV (Safe Encrypted Virtualization), guarantees robust isolation and clear reminiscence encryption.
Designed to guard in opposition to privileged attackers and bodily threats equivalent to bus snooping and chilly boot assaults, these safe CPU enclaves are used predominantly in cloud computing environments to create protected reminiscence areas which are encrypted and inaccessible to the remainder of the system. Nonetheless, security researchers from Begium’s KU Leuven College have developed a customized, low-cost DDR4 interposer that re-opens the door to provide chain assaults in opposition to even totally patched programs.
Throughout a presentation on the Black Hat Europe convention on Wednesday, Jesse De Meulemeester and Jo Van Bulck demonstrated how this $50 piece of {hardware} made it attainable to control reminiscence handle mapping, successfully tricking the processor into granting unauthorized entry to parts of encrypted reminiscence.
