The funky vulnerability of the month – what we call aBWAIN, short for Bug With an Impressive Name – is Plundervolt , also known as CVE-2019-11157 . Learn more about this vulnerability, how it works and what actions you should be taking to protect you system in an informative Naked Security article: . Plundervolt is a slightly ponderous pun on Thunderbolt (a hardware interface that’s had its own share of security scares ), and the new vulnerability has its own domain and website, its own HTTPS certificate, its own pirate-themed logo, and a media-friendly strapline: How a little bit of undervolting can cause a lot of problems. In very greatly simplified terms, the vulnerability relies on the fact that if you run your processor on a voltage that’s a little bit lower than it usually expects, e.g. 0.9V instead of 1.0V, it may carry on working almost as normal, but get some – just some – calculations very slightly wrong. The link for this article located at Naked Security is no longer available. . The Plundervolt vulnerability threatens Intel processors by exploiting voltage scaling, enabling attackers to access sensitive data from SGX-secured areas of memory. vulnerability detection, system security, undervolting threat. . Brittany Day
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