The Meltdown and Spectre security flaws, which are related to Intel processors and ARM-based chips, have been the talk of the town since the beginning of this year. Since then, several security updates have been released for operating systems, as well as new hardware revisions in the form of updated processor designs. However, six months after the initial media coverage of the case, it seems that the flaws are making a comeback.
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Despite the efforts of developers from Microsoftua Applu, who tried to fix security flaws, information has now emerged about another (and newer) one that is exclusively related to the operating system Windows (also through Bootcamp). The new information came from the Bitdefender group, which shared its findings at the currently ongoing Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas. Paradoxically, the newly publicized problem is actually not new. The group informed Intel about it already a year ago, but it assessed the whole situation as practically unrealistic and did not solve the problem. However, as it turned out, it was not such an unrealistic scenario.
In a press release, Bitdefender representatives claim that the new bug affects almost all users using newer Intel processors (Ivy Bridge and later) and the operating system. Windows (64 bits). This combination causes an instruction set called SWAPGS to operate at the OS kernel level, which contains a critical security flaw that makes it possible to access information that should otherwise be inaccessible.
Gallery
With the help of an exploit in the SWAPGS instructions, it is possible in user mode to access information of a system nature, which a regular user account must never access. In this way, it is possible to obtain data about passwords, encryption keys, personal communication tokens and other sensitive data, which are stored here only for the needs of the system as such or selected programs. This particular bug can even cause security updates released so far to fix the Specter and Meltdown bugs to be bypassed.
SWAPGS is purely about the operating system Windows, macOS owners have nothing to worry about if they don't use Windows via Bootcamp. If so, we recommend installing the latest updates, as Microsoft fixed this bug in one of the last unspecified updates. This is also the reason why the exploit can be published.
So far, I do not know how to use these errors using some virus. Antivirus companies just want to scare their product into being sold
I would really like to know if the new processors have already solved it without losing the bouquet or if it still relies on a fix at the OS level.