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Using Memory Errors to Attack a Virtual Machine

Posted by michael on from the no-one-is-safe dept.

gillus writes "A very cool scientific paper from Appel and Govindavajhala that explains how virtual machines like java or .Net can be exploited. How? Quite simple, bomb your DRAM chip with X-rays... or more simply with 50-watt spotlight, as the authors demonstrate. Definitively worth a read!"

1 of 247 comments (clear)

  1. Re:This just in! by smallpaul · · Score: 5, Informative

    Reports are sketchy at present, but we're being led to believe that it's easy to compromise a machine to which you have physical access!

    Bet you didn't even read the abstract. Here's the relevant bit:

    Our attack is particularly relevant against smart cards or tamper-resistant computers, where the user has physical access (to the outside of the computer) and can use various means to induce faults; we have successfully used heat.