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Privilege escalation vulnerability on 64-bit Intel CPU hardware

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Re: Privilege escalation vulnerability on 64-bit Intel CPU hardware

#3
Sounds like the vulnerability is in the software (the hardware works as specified): "Intel claims that this vulnerability is a software implementation issue, as their processors are functioning as per their documented specifications. However, software that fails to take the Intel-specific SYSRET behavior into account may be vulnerable."

Re: Privilege escalation vulnerability on 64-bit Intel CPU hardware

#4
post #3

Sounds like the vulnerability is in the software (the hardware works as specified): "Intel claims that this vulnerability is a software implementation issue, as their processors are functioning as per their documented specifications. However, software that fails to take the Intel-specific SYSRET behavior into account may be vulnerable."

The issue seems to be present in Xen, Windows, and Linuxes -- this suggests that, regardless of technicalities, Intel did something unwise. (Or at least didn't communicate effectively with software vendors)

Re: Privilege escalation vulnerability on 64-bit Intel CPU hardware

#7
post #4
post #3

Sounds like the vulnerability is in the software (the hardware works as specified): "Intel claims that this vulnerability is a software implementation issue, as their processors are functioning as per their documented specifications. However, software that fails to take the Intel-specific SYSRET behavior into account may be vulnerable."

The issue seems to be present in Xen, Windows, and Linuxes -- this suggests that, regardless of technicalities, Intel did something unwise. (Or at least didn't communicate effectively with software vendors)

FreeBSD also.

Re: Privilege escalation vulnerability on 64-bit Intel CPU hardware

#9
post #3

Sounds like the vulnerability is in the software (the hardware works as specified): "Intel claims that this vulnerability is a software implementation issue, as their processors are functioning as per their documented specifications. However, software that fails to take the Intel-specific SYSRET behavior into account may be vulnerable."

Intel's position is disingenuous at best. The SYSRET instruction was introduced by AMD long before Intel added support for it, so it was entirely natural for people to expect that Intel's implementation would be consistent with AMD's specification.

If you build a car which experiences temporal anomalies when driven at 88 miles per hour, it isn't good enough to have a line of fine print in the middle of a 1500 page manual. People expect to be able to drive a car at 88 miles per hour without ending up in the wrong century, and you should either not violate that assumption or have really big warning signs.

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