Exploiting Microarchitectural Optimizations from Software PDF
Preview Exploiting Microarchitectural Optimizations from Software
MMOORRIITTZZ LLIIPPPP E x p lo i ti n g M i c r o a r ch i t e c t u ra l O p ti m i z a ti on s f r om S o ft wa r e Illustration Natascha Eibl Exploiting Microarchitectural Optimizations from Software by Moritz Lipp Ph.D. Thesis Assessors Daniel Gruss (Graz University of Technology) Thomas Eisenbarth (University of Lübeck) August 2021 Institute for Applied Information Processing and Communications Faculty of Computer Science Graz University of Technology iii AFFIDAVIT I declare that I have authored this thesis independently, that I have not used other than the declared sources/resources, and that I have explicitly indicatedallmaterialwhichhasbeenquotedeitherliterallyorbycontent from the sources used. The text document uploaded to TUGRAZonline is identical to the present doctoral thesis. Date,Signature Abstract Withabstractionlayers, theimplementationdetailsofsoftwareandhard- ware components are hidden away to deal with the complexity of modern computer systems. While the Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) serves asaninterfacebetweentheCPUandthesoftwarerunningonit, thecom- putermicroarchitectureistheactualhardwareimplementationoftheISA. The clearly defined interfaces do not only cover up the complexity but also allow different variants of the microarchitecture to be built. While they all fulfill the contract defined by the ISA, they can differ in other aspects, suchasperformance, security, energyefficiency, orotherphysical properties. Microarchitectural attacks exploit these variations occurring on the microarchitectural level of modern CPUs. With side-channel at- tacks and fault attacks, there are different ways that allow learning from and tampering with the actual implementation. These attacks allow ad- versaries to extract sensitive information processed on the system, e.g., cryptographic keys or user behavior. In this thesis, we expand the landscape of software-based microarchi- tectural attacks and defenses. By exploring the security implications of different optimizations, we identify previously unknown attack vectors, allowing us to circumvent the most fundamental security guarantees of modern processors. We combine traditional physical side-channel analy- ses with software-based microarchitectural attack techniques to leak sen- sitive information processed on the CPU. We enlarge our understanding of which settings and circumstances facilitate different existing attacks and give new insights into developing effective and efficient mitigations. In the first part of this thesis, we discuss the contributions of this thesis and provide background on CPU architecture and memory organization, as well as side-channel attacks and fault attacks. Furthermore, we dis- cuss the state of the art of software-based microarchitectural attacks and defenses. In the second part, a selection of my peer-reviewed publications is provided without modification from their original versions. v Acknowledgements Firstandforemost, Iwanttothankmyadvisor, long-timeofficecolleague and friend, Daniel Gruss, who initially sparked my keen interest in mi- croarchitectural attacks. While I have always considered side-channel attacks as black magic and, therefore, have been very reluctant to learn about them, working with Daniel on my master thesis ignited my fasci- nation for this research field. I want to thank you for your continuous support, the freedom you granted me in my research, the endless effort you invest in everything, and your openness for different opinions. IwouldespeciallyliketothankMichaelSchwarzforhisfriendship,tireless support, and ambition to work on all those different projects with me. I really enjoyed our time working together, discussing all kinds of ideas whilekeepingthe caffeinelevelat ahealthyhigh, and discoveringpartsof the world after conferences. I will miss the late-night debugging sessions, ambitious paper sprints, and presenting our work together. Looking back over the last years, I want to thank you both, Daniel and Michael, for this incredible journey. I really enjoyed sharing the office with you, all the discussions, and the endless effort we put in as a team. The ups and downs we faced together make this roller coaster ride unfor- gettable for me. I want to thank Thomas Eisenbarth for valuable feedback, interesting discussions and taking the time and effort to assess my thesis. Furthermore, I would really like to thank Stefan Mangard for giving me the opportunity to pursue a Ph.D. in the first place. Thank you for your support and advice over the years. Over the last couple of years, I had the honor to meet, work and make friends with incredibly kind and talented people worldwide. While the list would be endless, I want to especially thank Jo van Bulck and Daniel Moghimi for insightful discussions and the great teamwork. Likewise, I want to thank Anders Fogh, David Oswald, Berk Sunar, Julian Steck- lina, and Thomas Prescher for great discussions and fruitful collabora- tions. I am further grateful to all my (former) colleagues at the insti- tute for insightful discussions and for creating such an enjoyable work- ing environment, in particular, Martin Schwarzl, Claudio Canella, Lukas Giner, Catherine Easdon, Andreas Kogler, Clémentine Maurice, Robert vii viii Schilling, Mario Werner, Peter Pessl, Stefan More and Sebastian Ra- macher. I want to thank my parents, Peter and Michaela, and my siblings, Ilona, Lukas, and Nikolaus, for all their love and support throughout my en- tire life. I would like to thank my loving family, Gertraud, Eva, Helga, Gerhard, Heidrun, and Renate, for their support. Aspecialthanksgoestoallmyfriends; withouttheirsupport, Icouldnot have completed this thesis. Thank you for meaningful discussions, even late at night, and providing the necessary distractions to the working life. Furthermore, I want to thank Yuki, Rasputin, and my bees for always helping me to find tranquilness even in the most stressful times. Finally, I want to be grateful to my better half, Natascha, for her never- ending supporting love and patience. Thank you for tolerating all follow- ing deadlines and supporting me throughout all those years. This work could not have been done without you.
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