Google has put up a proof-of-concept (PoC) code that exploits the Spectre vulnerability (opens in new tab) in Chrome as part of its bid to help web developers (opens in new tab) mitigate browser (opens in new tab)-based side-channel attacks.
This follows last month’s development when Google’s security engineer Mike West wrote a note to the W3C's Web Application Security Working Group, suggesting recommendations for web developers to write Spectre-resistant code. Reportedly the group is considering officially endorsing West’s recommendation.
“While operating system and web browser developers have implemented important built-in protections where possible (including Site Isolation with out-of-process iframes and Cross-Origin Read Blocking in Google Chrome (opens in new tab), or Project Fission in Firefox (opens in new tab)), the design of existing web APIs still makes it possible for data to inadvertently flow into an attacker's process,” Google security engineers Stephen Röttger and Artur Janc wrote.
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Spectre-proof websites
While the duo has used Google Chrome they note that the vulnerabilities are prevalent on all modern web browsers. They explain that the PoC helps demonstrate the practicality of side-channel exploits against JavaScript (opens in new tab) engines.
They’ve also put up a website (opens in new tab) to interactively depict how the side-channel attacks leaks data. The Google engineers note that while the demo website leaks data at a speed of 1kB/s on Chrome 88 on an Intel Skylake CPU (opens in new tab), they tried it on several other processors (opens in new tab) including the Apple M1 (opens in new tab) as well.
The PoC is just one of the several that Röttger and Janc have created, one leaked data at 8kB/s and another at 60kB/s. The released PoC was chosen because of its “negligible setup time.”
“While we don't believe this particular PoC can be re-used for nefarious purposes without significant modifications, it serves as a compelling demonstration of the risks of Spectre. In particular, we hope it provides a clear signal for web application developers that they need to consider this risk in their security evaluations and take active steps to protect their sites,” the developers conclude.
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Via: The Register (opens in new tab)
