Modern memory chips increasingly vulnerable to this physical hacking technique memory
New research by Google engineers reveals that attacks based on the physical memory hacking technique known as Rowhammer are now more plausible thanks to recent improvements in the design of modern DRAM memory chips.
The Rowhammer hack works by manipulating the electrical charge in modern memory chips. The repeated hammering to one row of transistors results in the flipping of values in the adjacent rows.
First revealed in 2014, Google’s Project Zero released a working privilege-escalation exploit for Rowhammer in 2015. Since its revelation, DRAM manufacturers have added mitigations that keep an eye on rows of transistors for suspicious behavior.
We’re looking at how our readers use VPN for a forthcoming in-depth report. We’d love to hear your thoughts in the survey below. It won’t take more than 60 seconds of your time.
However, latest research by Google shows that as chips continue to get smaller with transistors packed in more closely together, hammering a particular row could in fact alter the values of not just the immediate neighbors, but of rows further away.
Half double attack
Google researchers refer to this new Rowhammer attack as Half-Double, even as they note that the technique wasn’t viable on older generations of DRAM where transistor rows were placed farther apart than they are now.
“Traditionally, Rowhammer was understood to operate at a distance of one row: when a DRAM row is accessed repeatedly (the “aggressor”), bit flips were found only in the two adjacent rows (the “victims”). However, with Half-Double, we have observed Rowhammer effects propagating to rows beyond adjacent neighbors, albeit at a reduced strength,” write the researchers in Google’s Security blog.
The researchers also reveal that Google has been working with the JEDEC semiconductor engineering trade organization, and several other manufacturers from the industry to search for possible solutions for this new Rowhammer attack.
In fact, the Google researchers refer to Rowhammer as a “substantial” challenge with far-reaching ramifications. They’ve shared the details of the new Rowhammer attack technique in a bid to call on stakeholders from the industry to join the effort to look for viable solutions.
Via Wired
New research by Google engineers reveals that attacks based on the physical memory hacking technique known as Rowhammer are now more plausible thanks to recent improvements in the design of modern DRAM memory chips. The Rowhammer hack works by manipulating the electrical charge in modern memory chips. The repeated hammering…
Recent Posts
- Amazon’s Fallout has been renewed for season 2
- Quordle today – hints and answers for Friday, April 19 (game #816)
- NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Friday, April 19 (game #47)
- The Meta Quest 2 gets a permanent price cut to $199
- Galaxy users claim they’re running into infamous green line problem after update
Archives
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- December 2011