Battering RAM Attack Breaks Intel and AMD Security Tech With $50 Device

Researchers have disclosed the details of a new hardware attack that has been demonstrated against AMD and Intel systems, but the chip giants do not appear concerned as the method requires physical access to the targeted device.

The attack method, named Battering RAM, was discovered by a team of academic researchers representing KU Leuven in Belgium and the University of Birmingham and Durham University in the UK.

The researchers late last year disclosed the details of BadRAM, an attack that used $10 equipment to break AMD’s trusted execution environment protections, enabling attackers to gain access to potentially sensitive information stored in memory.

They have now presented Battering RAM, which can bypass modern defenses delivered by Intel and AMD cloud processors.

According to the researchers, the attack can break Intel SGX and AMD SEV-SNP confidential computing technologies that are widely used by cloud providers and designed to protect sensitive data ...