{"title":"Covert channels through branch predictors: a feasibility study","authors":"Dmitry Evtyushkin, D. Ponomarev, N. Abu-Ghazaleh","doi":"10.1145/2768566.2768571","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Covert channels through shared processor resources provide secret communication between malicious processes. In this paper, we introduce a new mechanism for covert communication using the processor branch prediction unit. Specifically, we demonstrate how a trojan and a spy can manipulate the branch prediction tables in a way that creates high-capacity, robust and noise-resilient covert channel. We demonstrate this covert channel on a real hardware platform both in Simultaneous Multi-Threading (SMT) and single-threaded settings. We also discuss techniques for improving the channel quality and outline possible defenses to protect against this covert channel.","PeriodicalId":332892,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Fourth Workshop on Hardware and Architectural Support for Security and Privacy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2015-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"43","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Proceedings of the Fourth Workshop on Hardware and Architectural Support for Security and Privacy","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1145/2768566.2768571","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 43
Abstract
Covert channels through shared processor resources provide secret communication between malicious processes. In this paper, we introduce a new mechanism for covert communication using the processor branch prediction unit. Specifically, we demonstrate how a trojan and a spy can manipulate the branch prediction tables in a way that creates high-capacity, robust and noise-resilient covert channel. We demonstrate this covert channel on a real hardware platform both in Simultaneous Multi-Threading (SMT) and single-threaded settings. We also discuss techniques for improving the channel quality and outline possible defenses to protect against this covert channel.