Address Space Layout Randomization, simply known as ASLR, is a memory protection technique. Almost all the Operating Systems use ASLR to guard themselves from different malicious attacks such as Buffer-Overflow. It randomizes the locations where programs run in a device’s memory. It makes it difficult for attackers to execute malicious payloads in specific spots of memory when trying to exploit the system.
For years, this technique has been protecting the systems from major security compromise resulting only simple crash.
A group of security researchers from VUSec (Vrije University in the Netherlands) have recently discovered a bug in CPU chips that could be exploited to bypass ASLR Protection. It makes millions of devices vulnerable to cyber-attacks. The more alarming thing is, a normal regular software update cannot fix this serious flaw.
It uses a simple JavaScript code to identify the memory addresses where system and application components are loaded. When combined with exploitation coded targeting browsers or operating systems, the JavaScript can quietly eliminate virtually all of the protection ASLR provides. A merely visit to a malicious site can trigger the attack. It allows attackers to conduct more attacks targeting the same area of the memory to steal sensitive information stored in the PC’s memory.
VUSec researcher team have already notified all the concerning chip-makers and software firms, including Intel, AMD, Samsung, Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Mozilla, few months ago. But only now, they went public with this information.
For now, the only way you can protect yourself against this vicious AnC attack, is to enable PlugIns such as NoScript for Firefox or ScriptSafe for Chrome. They can block malicious JavaScript codes on web pages from running in the browser.
Thank you.
