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In 2015, Researchers He made a disturbing discovery on Google: a data theft technique called “Rowhammer”, previously thought of as a theoretical concern, could be useful in real world conditions. Now, several groups of computer scientists at Google have shown that the problem has worsened, thanks in part to the improvement in how chips are designed.
Rowhammer is a physical hacking technique that manipulates an electrical charge on computer memory chips (known as DRAM) to corrupt or destroy data. In an attack, hackers run the same program over and over in a “row” of DRAM transistors, “hammering” that row until they spill electricity on the next row. When done in focused mode, this leakage can be physically reversed in the next row of transistors from 1 to 0 or vice versa. Strategically flipped bits enough, an attacker can begin to manipulate the target system and gain digital footing.
For years original In 2014 Rowhammer’s research, chipmakers added agility that controls adjacent rows to make them suspicious behavior. But as the chips get smaller and smaller, the ripple effect of staggering a certain row can take them two or more rows apart. Think of Gallagher breaking the watermelon. You can protect the front of the audience by giving them all plastic ponchos. But if it swings hard enough and the crowd is crammed in tight enough, the skin and pulp can have relationships with deep faces of two or three rows.
Researchers they called it an attack “Semi-double,” and note that the technique was not practical in older generations of DRAM where transistor queues were farther away. Like what’s left Moore’s Law the transistors are becoming more and more dense, however, the risk of leakage in Rowhammer’s attacks is increasing.
“This is the result of miniaturization,” Google researchers told WIRED in a written answer to the questions. “In experiments with old DDR4 chips, this technique was not successful. We are releasing this study today to advance our understanding of this threat. We hope to increase discussions about long-term and effective mitigation.”
Google has shared its findings with semiconductor engineering trading organization JEDEC extended bi stop-gap alleviation. The researchers have been coordinating with other industry partners to raise awareness about the issue. But it will take time for chip makers to fully understand the effects.
“Imagine your house is awesome,” says Dr. Daniel Moghimi, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Diego Rowhammer learned and microarchitectural attacks. “If a neighbor who owns a huge house plays loud music, you can probably hear it from your home, but maybe not from under three doors. When you live in a set of homes that are much closer to each other, the music will bother neighbors in many apartments. with cell density and proximity to each other “.
For a complete overhaul, it will be necessary to rethink how the chips should be designed and apply them to future generations of DRAM. Going back to Mighimi’s metaphor, it’s easier to build a new apartment with thicker walls and more insulation than to renovate an existing building.
Moghimi says the researchers already understood this potential risk in theory, but Google’s findings, once again, show a truly compelling attack. “It shows that it’s more practical than many people think,” he says.
It’s not the first time Rowhammer’s attacks have been fixed and turned back. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam researchers have over and over again show in the last 18 months Rowhammer’s current chip defenses against more traditional attacks can be defeated. Google’s findings include an additional caveat that advances in memory chip size and efficiency come with new risks for Rowhammer.
These hacking techniques would require some skill and luck in the actual target attack. Considering that Rowhammer’s potential exposure is in every existing computer device, however, his progress is worth taking seriously.
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