CVE-2024-36350 in EPYC 7003 Processors
Summary
by MITRE • 07/08/2025
A transient execution vulnerability in some AMD processors may allow an attacker to infer data from previous stores, potentially resulting in the leakage of privileged information.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/15/2025
This vulnerability represents a transient execution flaw affecting certain AMD processor architectures that enables attackers to exploit speculative execution mechanisms to infer sensitive data from previous memory store operations. The issue stems from the processor's handling of store operations within its speculative execution pipeline, where data remnants from prior memory writes can potentially leak through side channels. The vulnerability specifically impacts processors that implement store forwarding mechanisms and may be exploited through techniques similar to those used in spectre variant 1 attacks, though it operates on a different microarchitectural pathway. This transient execution vulnerability allows adversaries to perform cache timing attacks or other side-channel techniques to extract information that should remain protected, particularly affecting privileged system information and potentially sensitive user data.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability occurs within AMD's processor microarchitecture where the speculative execution engine processes store instructions before they are definitively committed to memory. When a processor speculatively executes store operations, it may retain information about previous memory stores in cache lines or other microarchitectural state elements that can be accessed through subsequent speculative execution paths. This creates a pathway for information leakage where an attacker can infer data from previous store operations through cache state analysis, potentially revealing sensitive information such as cryptographic keys, passwords, or other privileged data that was previously stored in memory. The vulnerability operates at the level of store forwarding units and cache management within the processor's out-of-order execution engine, making it particularly challenging to detect and mitigate.
The operational impact of CVE-2024-36350 extends beyond simple information disclosure, as it can potentially enable attackers to perform sophisticated attacks against operating system kernels, hypervisors, and application-level security mechanisms. Systems running on affected AMD processors may experience unauthorized data leakage from privileged execution contexts, potentially compromising the security of virtualized environments where hypervisors rely on secure memory isolation. The vulnerability affects both user-space and kernel-space operations, meaning that even properly secured applications may be vulnerable to data leakage through speculative execution pathways. This type of vulnerability is particularly concerning in cloud computing environments where multiple tenants share the same physical hardware, as it could enable cross-tenant information leakage. The transient nature of the vulnerability means that traditional mitigation approaches such as software patches or microcode updates may not fully address the underlying architectural issue, requiring more fundamental architectural changes to prevent the leakage of information through speculative execution.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability typically involve implementing software-based mitigations such as retpoline or other control flow integrity measures, along with microcode updates from AMD that modify the processor's speculative execution behavior to prevent store data leakage. Organizations should also consider architectural mitigations including memory access randomization, cache partitioning, and enhanced memory management techniques that limit the exposure of sensitive data through cache state. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-119 which addresses improper access to storage buffer and CWE-778 which covers insufficient logging, as it represents a failure to properly isolate memory operations within speculative execution contexts. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques such as T1059.001 for command and scripting interpreter and T1068 for exploit for privilege escalation, as attackers may use information leakage to gain elevated privileges or access to protected system resources. Organizations should implement comprehensive monitoring solutions to detect potential exploitation attempts and maintain regular updates to both hardware microcode and software mitigations to address this and related transient execution vulnerabilities.