What Is ZombieLoad?

ZombieLoad is the latest flaw found in Intel’s processor architecture. It’s very similar in nature to the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities that were discovered in early 2018, which could allow hackers to access extremely sensitive data like passwords and encryption keys from any affected computer.

ZombieLoad is not a software flaw, but rather something that can be exploited in the architecture of pretty much all modern computers. The flaw was named ZombieLoad in reference to the way it is exploited — by loading a large set of “zombie” data into the processor — more than it can normally handle — the processor calls upon additional resources to handle the load, which can then result in data leaking in from other apps. Security researchers who discovered the flaw have also prepared a very detailed technical paper on the flaw for those who are interested in the scientific and engineering aspects.

For the rest of us, however, the main takeaway is that this is a very serious vulnerability that shouldn’t be ignored.