Processor vulnerability
CVE-2018-3640
RDMSR and similar reads of system registers that fault at the current privilege can still hand their value to later instructions transiently.
- Name
- Rogue System Register Read
- Also known as
- Spectre v3a, RSRR
- Kind
- Transient execution
- CVE published
- 2018-05-22 CVE record
- Advisories
- INTEL-SA-00115
An instruction that reads a system register, such as RDMSR in user mode or in a guest whose MSR access exits to the hypervisor, faults or exits, but on affected processors the value it read can reach the instructions after it before the fault is taken. Those instructions can encode it in the cache, where the attacker measures it.
Intel’s view is that most of these registers hold nothing secret; the main risk is addresses that help defeat kernel address space layout randomization. ARM first described the method as variant 3a.
Affected processors
7 of the 27 microarchitectures listed are affected in all or some of their models.
| Microarchitecture | Status | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Haswell | Affected | 06_3FH stepping 2 (Haswell Server EP/EP4S): MCU 06_3FH stepping 4 (Haswell Server EX): MCU | Intel’s list |
| Broadwell | Affected | 06_4FH stepping 1 (1. Broadwell Server E/EP/EP4S - 2. Broadwell Server EX): MCU 06_56H stepping 3 (Broadwell DE V2 - V3): MCU 06_56H stepping 4 (Broadwell DE Y0): MCU 06_56H stepping 5 (Hewitt Lake (Broadwell DE)): MCU | Intel’s list |
| Skylake | Affected | 06_5EH stepping 3 (1. Skylake Xeon E3 - 2. Skylake H - 3. Skylake S): MCU | Intel’s list |
| Skylake-SP | Affected | 06_55H stepping 3 (Skylake Server): MCU 06_55H stepping 4 (1. Skylake Server - 2. Skylake D/Bakerville): MCU | Intel’s list |
| Kaby Lake | Some models | 06_8EH stepping 9 (1. Amber Lake-Y - 2. Kaby Lake U - 3. Kaby Lake U23e - 4. Kaby Lake Y): MCU 06_8EH stepping C (1. Whiskey Lake V - 2. Comet Lake U42 - 3. Amber Lake Y): Not Affected 06_9EH stepping 9 (1. Kaby Lake S - 2. Kaby Lake Xeon E3): MCU | Intel’s list |
| Coffee Lake | Some models | 06_8EH stepping A (1. Coffee Lake U43e - 2. Whiskey Lake): MCU 06_8EH stepping B (Whiskey Lake U): MCU 06_8EH stepping C (1. Whiskey Lake V - 2. Comet Lake U42 - 3. Amber Lake Y): Not Affected 06_9EH stepping A (Coffee Lake H): MCU 06_9EH stepping C (Coffee Lake S): MCU 06_9EH stepping D (1. Coffee Lake H - 2. Coffee Lake Xeon E - 3. Coffee Lake S): MCU | Intel’s list |
| Comet Lake | Some models | 06_8EH stepping C (1. Whiskey Lake V - 2. Comet Lake U42 - 3. Amber Lake Y): Not Affected 06_A5H stepping 2 (Comet Lake H): MCU 06_A5H stepping 3 (Comet Lake-S): MCU 06_A5H stepping 5 (Comet Lake-S): MCU 06_A6H stepping 0 (Comet Lake U62): MCU 06_A6H stepping 1 (Comet Lake U62): MCU | Intel’s list |
| Ice Lake (client) | Not affected | 06_7EH stepping 5 (Ice Lake U - Ice Lake Y): Not Affected | Intel’s list |
| Tiger Lake | Not affected | 06_8CH stepping 1 (Tiger Lake U): Not Affected 06_8CH stepping 1 (Tiger Lake U): Not Affected 06_8CH stepping 2 (1. Tiger Lake U Refresh - 2. Tiger Lake H35): Not Affected 06_8DH stepping 1 (Tiger Lake H): Not Affected 06_8DH stepping 1 (Tiger Lake H): Not Affected | Intel’s list |
| Alder Lake | Not affected | 06_97H stepping 2 (Alder Lake S (Golden Cove - Gracemont)): Not Affected 06_97H stepping 5 (Alder Lake S (Golden Cove - Gracemont)): Not Affected 06_97H stepping 5 (Catlow (Golden Cove)): Not Affected 06_9AH stepping 3 (1. Alder Lake H (Golden Cove - Gracemont) - 2. Alder Lake P (Golden Cove - Gracemont)): Not Affected 06_9AH stepping 4 (Alder Lake U (Golden Cove - Gracemont)): Not Affected | Intel’s list |
| Rocket Lake | Not affected | 06_A7H stepping 1 (Rocket Lake): Not Affected | Intel’s list |
| Raptor Lake | Not affected | 06_B7H stepping 1 (1. Raptor Lake S - 2. Raptor Lake HX (Raptor Cove/Gracemont)): Not Affected 06_B7H stepping 1 (Catlow (Raptor Cove)): Not Affected 06_BAH stepping 2 - 3 - 8 (1. Raptor Lake P - 2. Raptor Lake H + refresh - 3. Raptor Lake U + refresh (Raptor Cove/Gracemont)): Not Affected 06_BFH stepping 2 - 5 (Raptor Lake S (Raptor Cove/Gracemont)): Not Affected | Intel’s list |
| Meteor Lake | Not affected | 06_AAH stepping 4 (Meteor Lake U/H/PS (Redwood Cove - Crestmont)): Not Affected | Intel’s list |
| Arrow Lake | Not affected | 06_B5H stepping 0 (Arrow Lake U (Redwood Cove - Crestmont)): Not Affected 06_C5H stepping 2 (Arrow Lake H (Lion Cove - Skymont)): Not Affected 06_C6H stepping 2 (Arrow Lake H/HX/S/S Plus (Lion Cove - Skymont)): Not Affected | Intel’s list |
| Lunar Lake | Not affected | 06_BDH stepping 1 (Lunar Lake (Lion Cove - Skymont)): Not Affected | Intel’s list |
| Panther Lake | Not affected | 06_CCH stepping 2 - 3 (Panther Lake (Cougar Cove - Darkmont)): Not Affected | Intel’s list |
| Cooper Lake | Not affected | 06_55H stepping B (Cooper Lake): Not Affected | Intel’s list |
| Ice Lake (server) | Not affected | 06_6AH stepping 6 (Ice Lake Xeon-SP): Not Affected 06_6CH stepping All (Ice Lake Xeon D (Idaville)): Not Affected | Intel’s list |
| Emerald Rapids | Not affected | 06_CFH stepping 2 (Emerald Rapids (Raptor Cove)): Not Affected | Intel’s list |
| Sapphire Rapids | Not affected | 06_8FH stepping 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 (1. Sapphire Rapids - 2. Sapphire Rapids Edge Enhanced (Golden Cove)): Not Affected 06_8FH stepping 5 - 6 - 8 (Sapphire Rapids (Golden Cove) - Sapphire Rapids HBM): Not Affected | Intel’s list |
| Granite Rapids | Not affected | 06_ADH stepping 1 (Granite Rapids (Redwood Cove)): Not Affected 06_ADH stepping 1 (Granite Rapids (Redwood Cove)): Not Affected 06_ADH stepping 1 (Granite Rapids R1S (Redwood Cove)): Not Affected 06_AEH stepping 1 (Granite Rapids D (Redwood Cove)/Kaseyville): Not Affected | Intel’s list |
| Sierra Forest | Not affected | 06_AFH stepping 3 (Sierra Forest (Crestmont)): Not Affected | Intel’s list |
| Clearwater Forest | Not affected | 06_DDH stepping 1 (Clearwater Forest (Darkmont)): Not Affected | Intel’s list |
| Goldmont | Not affected | 06_5CH stepping A (Apollo Lake): Not Affected 06_5FH stepping All (Denverton (Goldmont)): Not Affected | Intel’s list |
| Goldmont Plus | Not affected | 06_7AH stepping 8 (Gemini Lake): Not Affected | Intel’s list |
| Tremont | Not affected | 06_86H stepping 5 (Snow Ridge BTS (Tremont)): Not Affected 06_86H stepping 7 (Parker Ridge / Snow Ridge NS/NX/BTS): Not Affected 06_96H stepping All (Elkhart Lake (Tremont)): Not Affected 06_9CH stepping All (Jasper Lake (Tremont)): Not Affected | Intel’s list |
| Gracemont | Not affected | 06_9AH stepping 4 (Arizona Beach (Gracemont)): Not Affected 06_BEH stepping 0 (Alder Lake N (Gracemont)/Twin Lake): Not Affected | Intel’s list |