CVE-2021-42114
Scalable Rowhammering In the Frequency Domain to Bypass TRR Mitigations On Modern DDR4/LPDDR4X Devices
Severity Score
Exploit Likelihood
Affected Versions
Public Exploits
3Exploited in Wild
-Decision
Descriptions
Modern DRAM devices (PC-DDR4, LPDDR4X) are affected by a vulnerability in their internal Target Row Refresh (TRR) mitigation against Rowhammer attacks. Novel non-uniform Rowhammer access patterns, consisting of aggressors with different frequencies, phases, and amplitudes allow triggering bit flips on affected memory modules using our Blacksmith fuzzer. The patterns generated by Blacksmith were able to trigger bitflips on all 40 PC-DDR4 DRAM devices in our test pool, which cover the three major DRAM manufacturers: Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron. This means that, even when chips advertised as Rowhammer-free are used, attackers may still be able to exploit Rowhammer. For example, this enables privilege-escalation attacks against the kernel or binaries such as the sudo binary, and also triggering bit flips in RSA-2048 keys (e.g., SSH keys) to gain cross-tenant virtual-machine access. We can confirm that DRAM devices acquired in July 2020 with DRAM chips from all three major DRAM vendors (Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron) are affected by this vulnerability. For more details, please refer to our publication.
Los dispositivos DRAM modernos (PC-DDR4, LPDDR4X) están afectados por una vulnerabilidad en su mitigación interna Target Row Refresh (TRR) contra los ataques Rowhammer. Los nuevos patrones de acceso Rowhammer no uniformes, que consisten en agresores con diferentes frecuencias, fases y amplitudes, permiten desencadenar cambios de bits en los módulos de memoria afectados usando nuestro fuzzer Blacksmith. Los patrones generados por Blacksmith fueron capaces de desencadenar cambios de bits en los 40 dispositivos DRAM PC-DDR4 de nuestro grupo de pruebas, que cubren los tres principales fabricantes de DRAM: Samsung, SK Hynix y Micron. Esto significa que, incluso cuando son usados chips anunciados como libres de Rowhammer, los atacantes pueden seguir siendo capaces de explotar Rowhammer. Por ejemplo, esto permite realizar ataques de escalada de privilegios contra el kernel o los binarios como el binario sudo, y también desencadenar cambio de bits en las claves RSA-2048 (por ejemplo, las claves SSH) para conseguir acceso a máquinas virtuales de otros usuarios. Podemos confirmar que los dispositivos DRAM adquiridos en julio de 2020 con chips DRAM de los tres principales proveedores de DRAM (Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron) están afectados por esta vulnerabilidad. Para más detalles, consulte nuestra publicación
CVSS Scores
SSVC
- Decision:-
Timeline
- 2021-10-08 CVE Reserved
- 2021-11-16 CVE Published
- 2024-07-31 EPSS Updated
- 2024-09-17 CVE Updated
- 2024-09-17 First Exploit
- ---------- Exploited in Wild
- ---------- KEV Due Date
CWE
- CWE-20: Improper Input Validation
CAPEC
References (3)
URL | Tag | Source |
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URL | Date | SRC |
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https://comsec.ethz.ch/research/dram/blacksmith | 2024-09-17 | |
https://comsec.ethz.ch/wp-content/files/blacksmith_sp22.pdf | 2024-09-17 | |
https://github.com/comsec-group/blacksmith | 2024-09-17 |
URL | Date | SRC |
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URL | Date | SRC |
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Affected Vendors, Products, and Versions
Vendor | Product | Version | Other | Status | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vendor | Product | Version | Other | Status | <-- --> | Vendor | Product | Version | Other | Status |
Samsung Search vendor "Samsung" | Ddr4 Sdram Firmware Search vendor "Samsung" for product "Ddr4 Sdram Firmware" | - | - |
Affected
| in | Samsung Search vendor "Samsung" | Ddr4 Sdram Search vendor "Samsung" for product "Ddr4 Sdram" | - | - |
Safe
|
Samsung Search vendor "Samsung" | Lddr4 Firmware Search vendor "Samsung" for product "Lddr4 Firmware" | - | - |
Affected
| in | Samsung Search vendor "Samsung" | Lddr4 Search vendor "Samsung" for product "Lddr4" | - | - |
Safe
|
Micron Search vendor "Micron" | Lddr4 Firmware Search vendor "Micron" for product "Lddr4 Firmware" | - | - |
Affected
| in | Micron Search vendor "Micron" | Lddr4 Search vendor "Micron" for product "Lddr4" | - | - |
Safe
|
Micron Search vendor "Micron" | Ddr4 Sdram Firmware Search vendor "Micron" for product "Ddr4 Sdram Firmware" | - | - |
Affected
| in | Micron Search vendor "Micron" | Ddr4 Sdram Search vendor "Micron" for product "Ddr4 Sdram" | - | - |
Safe
|
Skhynix Search vendor "Skhynix" | Ddr4 Sdram Firmware Search vendor "Skhynix" for product "Ddr4 Sdram Firmware" | - | - |
Affected
| in | Skhynix Search vendor "Skhynix" | Ddr4 Sdram Search vendor "Skhynix" for product "Ddr4 Sdram" | - | - |
Safe
|
Skhynix Search vendor "Skhynix" | Lddr4 Firmware Search vendor "Skhynix" for product "Lddr4 Firmware" | - | - |
Affected
| in | Skhynix Search vendor "Skhynix" | Lddr4 Search vendor "Skhynix" for product "Lddr4" | - | - |
Safe
|