Intel server-grade CPUs impacted by new NetCAT attack

guest · Sep 10, 2019

Intel server-grade CPUs impacted by new NetCAT attack
Academics develop new network-based attack that steals keystrokes from an active SSH session
September 10, 2019
https://www.zdnet.com/article/intel-server-grade-cpus-impacted-by-new-netcat-attack/

Academics from the Vrije University in Amsterdam have detailed today a new attack on Intel CPUs.

Named NetCAT, this is a vulnerability in all Intel chips that support the Data-Direct I/O Technology (Intel DDIO) and Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) features.
This type of attack is called a side-channel attack, and usually requires two conditions: (1) attacker with physical access to a computer, or (2) malware installed on the computer.
INTEL DDIO FEATURE AT FAULT
At fault is the Intel DDIO feature. This is a CPU speed optimization feature that was specifically designed for Intel's line of server-grade processors.

DDIO helps offload the vasts amount of data a network card might be receiving or sending by writing it to the CPU cache, where more information can be stored and processed at far superior speeds than in the RAM.
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THE NETCAT ATTACK
But in new reserch published today, VUSec academics have shown that sending carefully crafted network packets to a DDIO-capable CPU allows an attacker to keep an eye on what else is being processed in the CPU.

Attackers can't use the NetCAT attack to steal just any kind of data from a remote CPU, but only data that arrives as network packets and lands directly in the DDIO shared cache.

"In an interactive SSH session, every time you press a key, network packets are being directly transmitted," VUSec researchers said. "As a result, every time a victim you type a character inside an encrypted SSH session on your console, NetCAT can leak the timing of the event by leaking the arrival time of the corresponding network packet."
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