Recently, the RFDS identified a vulnerability in the energy-efficient E cores of modern Intel processors. To address this vulnerability, a solution has been proposed, which involves reducing the performance of these CPUs by 10%.
It’s worth noting that Tom’s Hardware recently reported that E cores are being used in many of Intel’s latest consumer processors, including those in Alder Lake and Meteor Lake, as well as Atom chips. While protections are in place to guard against malware that exploits this vulnerability, enabling them can impact system performance.
A new vulnerability in Intel processors, known as Register File Data Sampling (RFDS), has been recently discovered. This vulnerability allows attackers to access important processor registers and stored data, though it is less widespread than the previously disclosed Meltdown vulnerability. RFDS specifically affects processors with energy-efficient E cores, like Gracemont and Crestmont
The company addressed the recent RFDS vulnerability detected in Intel processors by releasing operating system patches and microcode updates. To test the efficacy of these fixes, Phoronix conducted 46 benchmark tests using a Core i9-14900K CPU on Linux. The tests revealed that the system’s productivity dropped by an average of 5%, with some tasks experiencing a drop of up to 10%. While this decrease in performance may not be entirely negligible, it pales in comparison to the performance drops of up to 39% observed in the Downfall issue. This slight reduction in productivity could be attributed to using E cores for background tasks.
It is highly recommended that users update their operating system and microcode to mitigate the risk of RFDS vulnerability. Motherboard manufacturers have already started releasing BIOS updates to resolve the issue. Linux users can rest assured that the latest OS update has addressed the problem, while Windows users will receive the patch in the next update. It is essential to keep your system up-to-date to ensure the safety and security of your data.
