Intel slowed down its processors around the world to combat the vulnerability

Intel slowed down its processors around the world in the course of fixing the vulnerability, the publication reports. Tom`s Hardware. Only the latest generation of Intel chips, which are part of the Raptor Lake, Sapphire Rapids and Alder Lake lines, have not been affected by the performance degradation.

According to the publication, Intel engineers have developed an update that fixes the CVE-2022-40982 vulnerability called Downfall. At the same time, brand processors in which the vulnerability was discovered became slower after installing the update.

So, Tom`s Hardware found out that the performance of the Xeon Platinum 8380 and Xeon Gold 6226R processors decreased by 6%, Cascade Lake – by 33%, Core i7-1165G7 – by 11-39%. The publication notes that initially Intel engineers expected a decrease in performance of some processors by 50%. Intel is expected to release an update over time that does not slow down performance.

A vulnerability in Intel chips was discovered by Google researcher Daniel Mogimi. It affects most of the Intel processors produced since 2015, except for the latest generation chips. Attackers could use the vulnerability to bypass barriers that keep data in the system private. Thanks to the “hole” in the protection, hackers are able to steal financial details, gain access to email, passwords and encryption keys, reports Wired.

Erdni Kagaltynov