The latest security information on Intel® products.
Pathfinder
Announcement ID:
2024-04-26-001
Issue:
Researchers from University of California San Diego/Purdue University/UNC Chapel Hill/Georgia Institute of Technology/Google will publish research on April 26, 2024 that builds on the previous Spectre v1 attacks . Dubbing their research “Pathfinder”, the researchers use conditional-branch-predictor-based transient execution techniques to allow inference of control flows, similar to traditional side channels. Previous Intel guidance around bounds check bypass for Spectre variant 1 addresses these new methods. The specific techniques discussed in the paper do not appear to add any new practical security concerns, though this area of research is still evolving. Intel does not plan to issue a new CVE and is not providing new guidance.
External academic researchers have reported methods to exploit previously identified incidental channels by manipulating history-based conditional branch predictions. They have dubbed this new research “Pathfinder”.
Recommendations:
Previously deployed mitigations for Spectre v1 and traditional side channels mitigate the reported exploits.
Recommended Diagnostic Steps:
Review Bounds Check Bypass documentation and Guidelines for Mitigating Timing Side Channels Against Cryptographic Implementations linked in the “Additional Resources” section below.
Additional resources:
Bounds Check Bypass / CVE-2017-5753 / INTEL-SA-00088
Guidelines for Mitigating Timing Side Channels Against Cryptographic Implementations
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