Vulnerability in CPU, backdoor at hardware level

[pedro.de.marco]

I supposed this has been discussed.

Security vulnerability: RETBLEED transient execution information leak side-channel attack (CVE-2022-29900, CVE-2022-29901, CVE-2022-23825, CVE-2022-28693) | Support | SUSE

www.suse.com

I ran " lscpu " command yesterday at work at some system and it showed some vulnerabilities and today I ran " lscpu " on another system with another cpu and it's showing " Retbleed " vulnerability. These are worrying. Any more " linux related " info on this subject and how to handle it and should I move to the new generation of CPU for this purpose?

 

[sonumonu]

The vulnerabilities you have encountered while running the "lscpu" command on different systems are serious concerns that should not be taken lightly. "Lscpu" is a Linux command that provides information about the CPU, including its architecture, model, and features. It can also provide information about any known vulnerabilities that affect the CPU.

One of the vulnerabilities that you may have encountered is "Spectre", which is a vulnerability that affects many modern CPUs and allows an attacker to access sensitive data on the system. Another vulnerability that you may have encountered is "Retpoline", which is a mitigation for the Spectre vulnerability.

To handle these vulnerabilities, it is important to keep your system up-to-date with the latest security patches and updates. You can also consider implementing additional security measures, such as using a firewall, antivirus software, and intrusion detection systems.

If you are concerned about the security of your CPU and the vulnerabilities that it may be susceptible to, you may want to consider upgrading to a newer generation of CPU that is designed to be more secure. However, this can be a costly and time-consuming process, so it is important to weigh the benefits and risks before making any decisions.

In summary, it is important to take CPU vulnerabilities seriously and to take steps to protect your system from potential attacks. Keeping your system up-to-date with the latest security patches and updates, implementing additional security measures, and considering upgrading to a newer generation of CPU can all help to mitigate the risks associated with these vulnerabilities.

 

[JasKinasis]

To expand on @sonumonu ‘s comments, these are serious physical design defects in the actual CPU chipsets themselves. So short of a product recall on these defective chipsets (which won’t ever happen), there’s no way to update/fix them, other than perhaps replacing them with a newer generation of CPU.

So because of the sheer number of these CPU’s that are out there in the wild, the Linux kernel devs (and the kernel teams for other OSes) have had to patch their kernels to avoid triggering these defects and to prevent attackers from maliciously taking advantage of them.

Because of these hardware vulnerabilities, operating system kernel devs are having to implement nasty, hacky kludges as workarounds to avoid triggering/leveraging these physical flaws/vulnerabilities in the design of the CPU. These patches often have a negative effect on the system’s overall performance.

Obviously the kernel devs try to minimise the side-effects of these patches, but it’s kinda unavoidable.

So keeping your systems up to date and at least using a firewall should help to prevent problems. Adding antivirus, or intrusion detection software may also be prudent.