New CPU Vulnerability Makes Virtual Machine Environments Vulnerable

The security vulnerability CacheWarp poses a risk for virtual machines based on AMD processors. Image source: CISPA By Falko Schoklitsch - Researchers at TU Graz and the Helmholtz Centre for Information Security have identified a security vulnerability that could allow data on virtual machines with AMD processors to fall under the control of attackers. In the area of cloud computing, i.e. on-demand access to IT resources via the internet, so-called trusted execution environments (TEEs) play a major role. They are designed to ensure that the data on the virtual work environments (virtual machines) is secure and cannot be manipulated or stolen. Researchers at the CISPA Helmholtz Centre for Information Security and Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) have now discovered a security vulnerability in AMD processors that allows attackers to penetrate virtual work environments based on the trusted computing technologies AMD SEV-ES and AMD SEV-SNP. This is achieved by resetting data changes in the buffer memory (cache), which gives the intruders unrestricted access to the system. They have chosen CacheWarp as the name for this software-based attack method.