Sinkclose: Update that fixes security flaw will not be made available to all affected CPUs, confirms AMD

Security agency researchers IOActive discovered a security flaw affecting the processors of AMD.

Named after Sinkclosethe flaw could affect millions of chips around the world, as it is present in the company’s processors manufactured since 2006. Options for both desktop and servers, with the line EPYC.

Apparently, the flaw has never been exploited by cybercriminals, and since AMD has already been notified in advance, mapping of the problem is already well advanced. The company is already releasing patches for the case. However, some families of the company’s chips will be left out of this update.

As they are already out of the company’s support period, Ryzen 1000, 2000 and 3000 chips will not receive the update. “There are some older products that are outside the software support window”, AMD said in a statement sent to the website Tom’s Hardware.

Regarding the chips that will be updated, AMD projects that it will not have any impact on the performance of the chips.

Processors that will receive the patch

• Ryzen 4000 (Renoir);
• Ryzen 5000 (Vermeer/Cezanne);
• Ryzen 7000 (Raphael);
• Ryzen 8000 (Phoenix);
• Athlon 3000 (Dali/Pollock);
• Ryzen 3000 (Picasso);
• Ryzen 4000 (Renoir);
• Ryzen 5000 (Cezanne/Barcelo);
• Ryzen 6000 (Rembrandt);
• Ryzen 7020 (Mendocino);
• Ryzen 7030 (Barcelona-R);
• Ryzen 7035 (Rembrandt-R);
• Ryzen 7040 (Phoenix);
• Ryzen 7045 (Dragon Range);
• Ryzen with Radeon graphics (Hawk Point).

Vulnerability is critical, but difficult to exploit

The technical assessment of the researchers involved in the discovery is that the vulnerability is considered critical, since the attacker would be able to apply malware undetectable by conventional antiviruses. However, exploiting the flaw is highly complex, requiring access to the system kernel.