13 major security flaws found on AMD Ryzen and Epyc CPUs

The new flaws on the AMD Zen line are quite similar to Spectre and Meltdown

Right after the Spectre and Meltdown fiasco, AMD CPUs now seem to have quite a lot of security flaws, too! The new security flaw affects AMDs Zen line, meaning Ryzen and Epyc CPUs have the flaws.

The flaws were discovered by CTS-Labs. They gave AMD less than 24 hours to look at its findings and respond before publishing the details. AMD is in the process of investigating the matter.

An AMD spokesman said that they are well aware of the issue and they are investigating it.

It’s not yet clear how serious these newly discovered flaws are. As presented, the 13 flaws fall into four categories called Master Key, Ryzenfall, Fallout, and Chimera. Between the four main vulnerabilities, an attacker could bypass a Ryzen or Epyc CPU’s secure boot and install malware into the BIOS, and the onto the processor itself. They could also leverage a pair of manufacturer backdoors to compromise a system’s firmware and chipset.