Security issues in the tech industry are piling up. This time the alert has been issued in relation to a group of AMD processors that are used by thousands of people around the world. To avoid putting your computer at risk, the expert who discovered the problem recommends that you update as soon as possible. What has happened?
A Google security researcher has been responsible for discovering what was going on with processors using AMD’s Zen 2 architecture. Luckily, as is usually done in this type of case, the expert quickly contacted the technology company to let them know what was happening to them and that it seems they were unaware of. That was in May and now, in July, the update that fixes it is already available.
A vulnerability discovered in time
The severity of the security breach discovered by Tavis Ormandy was really high. He found that these processors were opening the way for attackers who wanted to to steal critical user information, such as stored passwords, encryption keys, and other sensitive data that we would never want to leave our computer. The analyzes he did went on to discover that hackers would have the opportunity to steal this data at a rate of 30 KB/s for each of the processor cores.
Ormandy says that one of the worrying factors is that the vulnerability was linked to a function that most processors currently perform. Thus, it was caused exactly by executing the vzeroupper instruction. However, before contacting AMD, he was doing a lot of tests until he reached definitive conclusions.
It was more serious than you can believe
Tavis was very concerned about what he initially discovered and wanted to put everything he had seen to the test in a comprehensive way. He designed different exploits that would demonstrate where the problem was and under what circumstances it was caused. He found a good number of variants and in the end he squeezed the potential of the security breach in such a way that he could steal passwords and keys in practically all system operations that one could think of. As he mentions, neither virtual machines nor closed sandbox environments would have been spared.
Tavis Ormandy
@taviso
First big result from our new CPU research project, a use-after-free in AMD Zen2 processors! 🔥 AMD have just released updated microcode for affected systems, please update! https://t.co/NVPWFpVopz https://t.co/HgKwu9w8Av
July 25, 2023 • 13:02
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Four. Five
Among other things, it demonstrated that passwords and encryption keys could be seen at the moment users were logging on to the computer. Technically named CVE-2023-20593, but also known as Zenbleed, the security issue was put in the hands of AMD to do something to prevent it from generating a regrettable incident. Of course, Tavis kept quiet until all danger had passed, and the company has already fixed the problem with a security update that you should apply as soon as possible.
If you wonder if your processor can be affected, you should know that the series that use the Zen 2 architecture include some as popular as Ryzen 4000U/H, Ryzen 7020, Ryzen 3000, Ryzen 5000U, Epyc and ThreadRipper 3000. Also, although the exploit designed by the specialist is based on Linux, he mentions that the security breach affected all operating systems, so having Windows you are also in danger.
As a way to avoid security issues in this situation, there are two things you can do. The most efficient is applying the update that AMD has published and that is available online. If you find it too complicated, what you can do is wait for the manufacturer of your computer to issue the corresponding update, although you will be exposing yourself during the time that elapses. In any case, Tavis Ormandy says that the risk for users is not as great as one might think in view of the processes that must be followed to attack your computer, but it never hurts to watch your back and keep your equipment up to date.
