ETH Zurich researchers discover new security vulnerability in Intel processors
ethz.ch
Computer scientists at ETH Zurich discover new class of vulnerabilities in Intel processors, allowing them to break down barriers between different users of a processor using carefully crafted instruction sequences. Entire processor memory can be read by employing quick, repeated attacks.
  • The new class of vulnerabilities in Intel processors arises from speculative technologies that anticipate individual computing steps.
  • Openings enable gradual reading of entire privilege memory contents of shared processor (CPU).
  • All Intel processors from the last 6 years are affected, from PCs to servers in data centres.
  • Cocodapuf@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    5 hours ago

    Frequent crashing/freezing, especially at idle. Once the processor is under heavier load it’s fine, it’ll keep going smooth for hours. but at lower energy states the CPU is super unstable. It often takes me about a half hour just to get the thing up and running steady, very frustrating. Sometimes it likes to crash right as it’s changing load levels/c-State, so just as it finishes loading files for a game just as the first 3d frame is rendered. Or vice versa, it’ll crash about 15 seconds after the computer returns to mostly idle when you exit an application.

    I’ve tried a bunch of things, disabling c-states, manually setting dram timings, manually increasing power to various parts, enabling/disabling just about every relevant feature I can find. And of course looking for help online. I’m actually pretty sure the problem is in the motherboard, as one of the “fixes” I tried was going from a Ryzen 3600 to a 3800X, and the problem was the same.

    I’ve looked around and it’s an issue I have seen other people having, though it’s not very common. But there’s no consensus in the root of the problem. It does seem to be that it’s some interaction between the motherboard and cpu. It could plausibly be the power supply, but I think that’s pretty unlikely. The ram is fine.

    • yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      2·
      2 hours ago

      Honestly, it does sound a bit like a hardware defect somewhere. Usually everything should work OOTB unless you are doing something really specific.

      If you haven’t already done so, try updating the BIOS.

      You mentioned the RAM being fine - have you run Memtest86+ for several hours? One pass is usually not enough to rule out memory malfunctions.

      If you have a spare drive, try installing Linux Mint on it. If it still crashes, you can rule out Windows (and if it doesn’t, you could install a clean Windows on that same drive and try again).

      You could also purchase a cheap AM4 motherboard (they start at like 60 bucks) to check if the issues still occur and refund it within the return window.

      • Cocodapuf@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        44 minutes ago

        Hey, thanks for the reply. Yeah I ran memtest at some point, but I’ve also used the memory in a different machine and had no trouble with it.

        I’ve done several bios updates hoping for some fix, but no beans.

        It does feel like a hardware defect, but the unfortunate bit is that the machine ran great for over a year, then suddenly started giving me trouble at some point, so I’m probably outside of any warranty period. That’s basically the only reason I haven’t RMA’d it already.

        Installing mint is a pretty good idea, I could try that. But yeah, a new AM4 mobo is probably my best bet, I can’t tell you how frustrating it is though…

        Thanks for the ideas, I appreciate it!

    • x4740N@lemm.eeEnglish
      2·
      4 hours ago

      I don’t know if amd does this for your specific issue but you might have a problem had with amd driver conflicts, I had this issue and was going through great lengths to Tey and figure out what was causing this until the helpful people at toms hardware helped

      https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/sporadic-bsods-in-windows-11-professional.3877530/#post-23472239

      Edit: also try turning off memory context restore and there was something about ram power levels thst might cause bsods of similar nature to other people but I don’t remember the bios setting name at this time unfortunately but am just leaving this here incase you figure out the name

      I’d also recomend making an account snd posting on tomshardware forums because they helped me figure out what was causing my own BSOD’s

      And run memtest86 and memtest86+ just to rule out bad ram

      Windows ram diagnostics is useless

      • x4740N@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        4 hours ago

        I really dislike how you’re so comfortable recommending RMA’ing a board when the person hasn’t provided logs / data

        Because that does nothing to solve the problem if it turns out that an RMA wasn’t needed

        Tech troubleshooting is a process of ruling things out and reading through information to narrow down to a probable cause and implementing a fix too see if it fixes the issue

        You have no information besides what they’ve already tried which is random things because they haven’t read log data or other information to help them figure out a cause

        • Nighed@feddit.ukEnglish
          1·
          3 hours ago

          I have to admit I didn’t read it through properly, but if it’s a problem with two CPUs then it’s probably a motherboard issue. (Or something g completely unrelated like ram)