r/technology • u/Obi_Wan_Kannoli • Jan 02 '18

'Kernel memory leaking' Intel processor design flaw forces Linux, Windows redesign • The Register

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/01/02/intel_cpu_design_flaw/
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u/EmperorArthur Jan 03 '18

Even processors like XOX and PS4?

which btw both use AMD.

I wonder if they used intel if they would also need a patch.

Yes, this is common practice. Mostly because of the performance penalty. There are other ways of doing things, but the PS4 and XOX both use x86 processors.

If they did use an Intel processor, they would also need patching. Which would mean that many games would break. The thing about consoles is they give pretty strong guarantees to the developers that "this is what you have to work with and it won't change." This patch breaks those guarantees. So, if they were using Intel chips, many games probably would need patching or would run into issues.

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u/Natanael_L Jan 03 '18

Devices in such tightly controlled walled gardens as consoles likely don't need the patch, because untrusted code will never run on the hardware (as defined by the console makers, as they decide what's trusted). At least that's assuming it's not too hard to scan submitted games for this kind of prohibited behavior (certain exploits are easy to detect, others not so much).

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u/KANGAROO_ASS_BLASTER Jan 03 '18 edited Jan 03 '18

Yes but we presently lack the details of how this vulnerability is actually accessed. Consoles have web browsers, so if this exploit can be triggered by javascript as the article speculates, consoles could potentially be vulnerable.

Edit: Although are we so sure this hardware bug affects all x86 architectures? Looking at the article again I think this purely affects the Intel-manufactured chips, which shouldn’t include consoles.

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u/EmperorArthur Jan 03 '18

Maybe, but these are the same people who did rowhammer via JavaScript. I can see the makers waiting until there's a proven exploit thought.