Full Report
A group of academic researchers from Georgia Tech, Purdue University, and Synkhronix have developed a side-channel attack called TEE.Fail that allows for the extraction of secrets from the trusted execution environment (TEE) in a computer's main processor, including Intel's Software Guard eXtensions (SGX) and Trust Domain Extensions (TDX) and AMD's Secure Encrypted Virtualization with Secure
Analysis Summary
# New TEE.Fail Side-Channel Attack Extracts Secrets from Intel and AMD DDR5 Secure Enclaves
## Key Points
- A new side-channel attack called **[TEEFAIL](https://tee.fail/)** allows for the extraction of secrets from Intel's Software Guard eXtensions (SGX) and Trust Domain Extensions (TDX) and AMD's Secure Encrypted Virtualization with Secure Nested Paging (SEV-SNP).
- The attack involves using an interposition device built using off-the-shelf electronic equipment that costs under $1,000.
- TEE.Fail is the first attack to be demonstrated against DDR5 memory, meaning it can be used to undermine the latest hardware security protections from Intel and AMD.
## Threat Actors
- A group of academic researchers from Georgia Tech, Purdue University, and Synkhronix developed the TEE.Fail side-channel attack.
## TTPs
- The attack uses an interposition device built using off-the-shelf electronic equipment.
- Physical memory interposition attacks are used to extract data from confidential virtual machines (CVMs).
## Affected Systems
- Intel's Software Guard eXtensions (SGX)
- Trust Domain Extensions (TDX)
- AMD's Secure Encrypted Virtualization with Secure Nested Paging (SEV-SNP)
- DDR5 servers
## Mitigations
- Using software countermeasures to mitigate the risks arising as a result of deterministic encryption.
- Note that AMD has no plans to provide mitigations since physical vector attacks are out of scope for AMD SEV-SNP.
## Conclusion
The TEE.Fail side-channel attack allows for the extraction of secrets from Intel and AMD DDR5 secure enclaves. While there is no evidence that the attack has been used in the wild, researchers recommend using software countermeasures to mitigate the risks arising from this attack.