3 ms·
It probably would be possible to add a new instruction that causes the processor to flush all state in exchange for sacrificing task switching speed. Of course
by Negitivefrags 3y ago
It probably would be possible to add a new instruction that causes the processor to flush all state in exchange for sacrificing task switching speed. Of course it might still have bugs, but you could imagine that it would be easier to get right.
Of course, it’s not doing much for the billions of devices that exist.
I would hope that we could find a software solution that web browsers can implement so that devices can be patched.
Either way, I would want such a solution to not compromise performance in the case where code is running in the same security context.
This is what I don’t like about existing mitigations. It’s making computers slower in many contexts where they don’t need to be.
- zamadatix 3y agoSoftware can choose to invalidate all cache, fence access, and the like today. It may not be a single instruction but it's not far off. Usually something like "just don't JIT 3rd party JS to native code" is "secure enough" most don't want to go down that route though. For cloud (reputable) providers just don't allow more than 1 VM to be assigned to a core at the same time and flush everything between if they are time shared. The mitigations are the way to keep the most overall performance outside those who are most concerned with maximum security, so they are the most popular.