NetCAT - Practical Cache Attacks from the Network
Explore a groundbreaking IEEE conference talk on NetCAT, a practical cache attack from the network. Delve into the security implications of Direct Cache Access (DCA) on modern Intel processors, focusing on the Last Level Cache (LLC) shared between CPU and peripheral devices. Discover how NetCAT enables network-based PRIME+PROBE cache attacks, potentially compromising sensitive information in both cooperative and adversarial settings. Learn about the reverse engineering of Data-Direct I/O (DDIO), its impact on processor security, and a demonstrative keystroke timing attack on SSH connections. Gain insights into the challenges, implementation, and evaluation of NetCAT, including CVE-2019-11184. Understand the importance of cautious microarchitectural component sharing with peripherals and potential mitigation strategies for this novel security threat.