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AMD CPU Vulnerability in Chipset Affects Virtually All Ryzen Systems Running Windows

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ZeroPeril security researcher Kyriakos Economou has revealed that he has found a driver vulnerability in several AMD chipsets.
The bug allows attackers to extract information from RAM via the Platform Security Processor (PSP) in AMD CPUs. It seems to only apply to the Windows driver.

This allows sensitive information such as passwords to be stolen.
The PSP is AMD's take on Intel's SGX enclave and is the part of the memory that the processor entrusts with sensitive information.
When Windows communicates with the enclave, it does so through the kernel driver amdsps.sys.

The researcher says to have stolen several gigabytes of data. It is not a hardware problem, but the implementation of the driver itself.
So it can be solved with a driver update. Nothing is mentioned about the Epyc products, these chips don't seem to pose a problem.

Capture.PNG

AMD has since stated that not only the Ryzen 2000 and Ryzen 3000 processors are vulnerable, the Ryzen 1000 chips, Threadripper,
Ryzen 5000 and several older processors also suffer from the problem, according to the researcher himself and The Record.
You will find the complete list at the bottom.

The chip designer recommends that users update their system directly to AMD PSP driver 5.17.0.0 via Windows Update, or manually to AMD Chipset Driver 3.08.17.735.
The ZeroPeril white paper states that practically all AM4 chipsets use the vulnerable driver, but nothing is mentioned about the chipsets for the older CPUs.
It is striking that the FX 6000 chips are mentioned, but they do not have an integrated GPU. Presumably the AMD A 6000 apus are meant.

Vulnerable chipsets:
  • B350
  • A320
  • X370
  • X399
  • B450
  • X470
  • X570
  • B550
  • A520
  • TRX40
  • WRX80
Vulnerable processors:
  • AMD FX 6000-cpu's with R7-graphics (presumably AMD A 6000-apu's)
  • AMD A10-apu's with R6-graphics
  • AMD A8-apu's with R6-graphics
  • AMD A6-apu's with R5-graphics
  • AMD A4-apu's with Radeon-graphics
  • AMD Athlon X4
  • AMD E1-apu's with Radeon-graphics
  • AMD Ryzen 1000-series
  • AMD Ryzen 2000-series
  • AMD Ryzen 3000-series
  • AMD Ryzen 5000-series
  • AMD Ryzen Threadripper (presumably all)


 
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Looks like I'm safe. The latest as of September 7, 2021, was installed.
 
That driver with the fix came out in august, so yeah the news is oddly out of date here

I mean, if the fix is on windows update, 99% of users have it long ago
 
Look, i'm from australia in the future and that was a really long time ago for me


also i had to check what month and year it was
 
Look, i'm from australia in the future and that was a really long time ago for me


also i had to check what month and year it was

AMD originally issued the patch several weeks ago, but without disclosing which vulnerabilities were addressed. This new disclosure answers those questions.
 
Makes sense to take some time between patching and disclosing so that the fix can be applied broadly through Windows Update - or especially for enterprise users with their own update cycles. No mention of the exploit being used in the wild, so keeping it quiet for a bit seems sensible. Still, it's definitely good that this was easily patched.
 
Nice to know it is already patched for whoever have installed the latest updates for their mobo chipset.
 
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