Earlier this month, a new critical vulnerability in Intel processors was discovered, named 'Spoiler'. The specialists who identified the issue reported that AMD and ARM processors are not susceptible to it. Now, AMD has confirmed that due to architectural features, Spoiler poses no threat to its processors.
As with the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities, the new issue lies in the implementation of speculative execution mechanisms in Intel processors. In AMD chips, this mechanism is implemented differently, particularly using a different approach to managing operations in memory and cache. Specifically, Spoiler can gain access to partial information about the address (above 11 bits of the address) during load operations. AMD processors do not use partial address matches above 11 bits of the address when resolving load conflicts.
It is important to note that although Spoiler, like Spectre, relies on a mechanism of speculative execution, the new vulnerability cannot be patched with existing 'fixes' for previous exploits. This means that current Intel processors will require new patches, which may again affect chip performance. Furthermore, Intel will eventually need architectural-level fixes. AMD, on the other hand, will not need to undertake such actions.
In conclusion, Spoiler affects all Intel processors, starting from the first generation Core chips to the current Coffee Lake Refresh, as well as the yet-to-be-released Cascade Lake and Ice Lake. Despite Intel being notified of the issue as early as the beginning of December last year, and more than ten days having passed since Spoiler was publicly disclosed, the company has not yet provided potential solutions to the problem nor issued an official statement on the matter.
Source: 3dnews.ru
