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Intel Server Processors Are Vulnerable To Attack

By September 27, 2019May 16th, 2022Cybersecurity

Researchers at Vrije Universiteit, in Amsterdam have discovered a disturbing new side-channel attack. All Intel server-grade processors made since 2012 are vulnerable to what has been dubbed NetCAT.

That stands for Network Cache Attack and it exploits a weakness in Intel’s Data Direct I/O (DDIO) feature.

DDIO is specific to Intel’s server-grade processors and is enabled by default on the Intel Xeon E5, E7 and SP families from 2012 onwards.  The idea behind DDIO is that enhances system performance by sharing the CPU with network devices and peripherals.

Unfortunately, a flaw in DDIO’s design gives hackers the ability to infer data in the CPU’s last-level cache of a remote machine.  Researchers were able to demonstrate that an attacker controlling a machine on the network can use this method to infer confidential data from an SSH session. That is, without running any sort of malware on the target system, which naturally makes it notoriously difficult to detect.

The researchers had this to say about their discovery:

“…with NetCAT, we can leak the arrival time of the individual network packets from a SSH session using a remote side channel.”

The researchers went onto explain that during an interactive SSH session, network packets are sent with each keystroke.  Via NetCAT, it is possible for an attacker to deduce what characters are typed inside an encrypted (SSH) session.

“For example, typing ‘s’ right after ‘a'” is faster than typing ‘g’ after ‘s.’  As a result, NetCAT can operate statistical analysis of the inter-arrival timings of packets in what is known as a keystroke timing attack to leak what you type in your private SSH session.”

As disturbing as that sounds, it should be noted that this is an incredibly exotic form of attack that has yet to be seen anywhere in the wild.  The day is surely coming when we do see hackers making use of this, but for the moment, it serves more as a dire warning of things to come than anything else.

Jason Manteiga

Jason J. Manteiga, Vice President of Olmec Systems, has been part of the company for over the past 20 years. He believes that having a great work environment and supportive team, is the ultimate key to success. Since being in the IT realm for over 25 years, Jason, along with Olmec Systems, has been on the Inc. 5000 “List of America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies” and Channel Futures MSP 501 “Top Managed Service Providers in North America,” along with other awards and nominations. Jason earned his Bachelor Degree in Information Systems from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He also holds certifications in Microsoft MCSE, VMWare VCP, and Cisco CCNA. In his spare time, Jason is a contributor for The Center for Social & Legal Research (Privacy Exchange) and a member of the Morris County Chamber of Commerce. His hobbies include cycling and kayaking. He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife, two daughters and son.