Programmers who first discovered the vulnerability, which writes the Register, reported that it allows any software, including viruses, to access passwords, usernames and other confidential user information. The scale of the problem is much more serious than it may seem at first glance, because the vulnerability is observed on all chips released in the last ten years.
Due to the fact that vulnerability can make use of the hackers, the experts who discovered the “hole” in security, do not disclose the details, but promise to share the information closer to the end of January — that’s when, in their opinion, the problem should be addressed at all levels. According to studies, make it pretty easy, because the vulnerability can be corrected at the operating system level, so developers Windows, Linux and macOS should isolate the processor core from the user environment.
But there are nuances. To isolate the kernel is, only such operations can cause serious performance losses, up to thirty percent on Windows and Linux. As for the devices on macOS, everything is not clear what impact the Troubleshooting on machines running this OS, the experts still unknown. The participants of the insider program testing Windows report that it started to receive security updates, and soon another patch will be released for other users. Security experts strongly recommend not to ignore the next system update and updated as soon as possible.
A serious vulnerability in Intel processors can lead to data leakage
Vyacheslav Larionov