Invention Grant
- Patent Title: Systems and methods for protecting cache and main-memory from flush-based attacks
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Application No.: US17276773Application Date: 2019-09-17
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Publication No.: US11783032B2Publication Date: 2023-10-10
- Inventor: Moinuddin Qureshi
- Applicant: Georgia Tech Research Corporation
- Applicant Address: US GA Atlanta
- Assignee: Georgia Tech Research Corporation
- Current Assignee: Georgia Tech Research Corporation
- Current Assignee Address: US GA Atlanta
- Agency: Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP
- Agent Ryan A. Schneider; Brandon M. Reed
- International Application: PCT/US2019/051393 2019.09.17
- International Announcement: WO2020/060965A 2020.03.26
- Date entered country: 2021-03-16
- Main IPC: G06F21/55
- IPC: G06F21/55 ; G06F12/0802 ; G06F12/0891

Abstract:
Disclosed herein are systems and methods for identifying and mitigating Flush-based cache attacks. The systems and methods can include adding a zombie bit to a cache line. The zombie bit can be used to track the status of cache hits and misses to the flushed line. A line that is invalidated due to a Flush-Caused Invalidation can be marked as a zombie line by marking the zombie bit as valid. If another hit, or access request, is made to the cache line, data retrieved from memory can be analyzed to determine if the hit is benign or is a potential attack. If the retrieved data is the same as the cache data, then the line can be marked as a valid zombie line. Any subsequent hit to the valid zombie line can be marked as a potential attack. Hardware- and software-based mitigation protocols are also described.
Public/Granted literature
- US20210349995A1 Systems and Methods for Protecting Cache and Main-Memory from Flush-Based Attacks Public/Granted day:2021-11-11
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