Intel CrossTalk vulnerability leaks data across CPU cores

It's been some time since we last reported about a security vulnerability for Intel processors. Now security researchers from Vrije University's Systems and Network Security Group (VUSec) in the Netherlands detail a new attack called CrossTalk. This is another MDS (microarchitectural data sampling) attack and it can be used to leak data across CPU cores.

For all the older Intel CPU lines, the chipmaker has released today microcode (CPU firmware) updates to patch the CrossTalk vulnerability -- which Intel refers to as "Special Register Buffer Data Sampling" or SRBDS (CVE-2020-0543, Intel-SA-00320).

"As with all side-channel issues reported to date, Intel is not aware of any real-world exploits of SRBDS outside of a lab environment," Intel said in a blog post analyzing its June security updates.

The university researchers have been working with Intel to fix this issue since September 2018. Some of Intel's recent CPUs are not vulnerable to CrossTalk. Full details at ZD Net and a list of vulnerable Intel processors can be found over here.