CPUs and architecture

Which is an example of vulnerabilities revealing attacks that exploit traces of speculative execution left in the cache to infer data that should not be accessible?

  1. ARow hammer
  2. BSpectre and Meltdown
  3. CLatch-up
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Answer: B. Spectre and Meltdown

Spectre and Meltdown, disclosed in 2018, exploit the fact that even when the results of speculatively executed work are discarded, traces remain in the cache state, allowing secret data to be inferred from differences in access time. They showed that mechanisms for improving performance can become security weaknesses.

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More CPUs and architecture questions

  1. Which metric indicates the amount of heat generated under a standard heavy load, used as a guide for CPU cooling design?
  2. Which metric indicates the number of instructions executed per clock?
  3. What is the problem called in which power and heat constraints prevent all circuits on a chip from running at full performance at the same time?
  4. What does CPU stand for?
  5. Which correctly describes a CPU with a clock frequency of 3 GHz?