Intel processors have a major security flaw: Report

It is understandable that not all technological products are free of any type of flaw. However, the companies must especially avoid big screw-ups in their products. Unfortunately for Intel, this isn’t happening. All Intel processors have reportedly been detected with a major security flaw that allows “normal user programs – from database applications to Javascript in web browsers – to discern to some extent the layout or contents of protected kernel areas,” a report by The Register suggested.

In other words, all the Intel processors manufactured in the last decade feature a design flaw that enables malicious programs with easy access to protected areas of a device’s kernel memory. For those who aren’t aware, kernel memory is ideally dedicated to the essential core components of an operating system and their interactions with system hardware.

According to a report published by Gizmodo, if this flaw isn’t resolved immediately then it has the potential of exposing personal information of its users including passwords, bank details, pictures and more. The error is deeply baked into Intel’s x 86-64 hardware and thus, requires an OS-level overwrite to be completely eradicated. Since Intel processors are used in the majority of the operating systems these days, including Windows, Linux, and Mac OS, this is a worrisome aspect for Intel.

We are still not aware of the precise details regarding the flaw. It remains to be seen exactly how vulnerable systems can get with the existence of this flaw. The design flaw is being kept under wraps as of now.

There are a couple of developers who are trying to work on solving this problem. “In the absolute worst-case speculative scenario, something as simple as JavaScript running on a webpage or cloud-hosted malware could gain access to some of the most sensitive inner workings of an Intel-based device,” noted Gizmodo.