A New Intel CPU Vulnerability “Plundervolt” has Been Discovered

As you are probably aware, there has been more than a little news in recent years about security issues being discovered within Intel designed processors. Vulnerabilities such as these have prompted the company to launch ‘bug bounties’ to encourage ‘white hat hacking’ groups to help identify any new potential problems that may yet lie undiscovered.

Well, its time for Intel owners to brace themselves again as in a report via TechPowerUp a security research group has confirmed a new bug, ‘Plundervolt’, has been discovered which, through manipulation of your vCore settings, could potentially allow person/s to access your data.

Intel ‘Plundervolt’ Exploit

So, how does it work? Well, as you expect, the details are not highly specific (to prevent people from attempting this). In simple terms though, the hack looks to adjust your vCore voltage (a setting well-known in the overclocking community) to create an error in the SGX (software guard extensions). This error effectively disables the safeguards on protected data which can then potentially allow a user to access it.

At the time of writing, it seems that this exploit is more of a concept than a reality. That, however, is still more than enough to prompt Intel to take action.

What is Intel Doing?

Intel has already issued an official security post about the issue which you can read via the link here. They are, however, already in talks with motherboard partners to look to apply a firmware patch (which will likely recommend a BIOS update). You can, therefore, probably expect to hear more about that in the coming weeks.

To learn more about ‘Plundervolt’ you can check out the official research paper via the link here!

What do you think? Does this security flaw worry you? How many more do you think will be discovered in Intel processors? – Let us know in the comments!