Meltdown - Basics, Details, Consequences

This talk explains how Meltdown breaks user–kernel memory isolation through speculative execution and cache side channels. It covers practical memory-dumping attacks, affected systems, and operating-system mitigations such as kernel page-table isolation.

Syllabus

Intro
Virtual Memory
Memory Isolation
Page Table Entry
Direct-physical map
Loading an address
Side-channel Attacks
CPU Cache
Memory Access Latency
Architecture and Microarchitecture
In-Order Execution
Out-of-Order Execution
Building the Code
Details: Exception Handling
Meltdown with Fault Suppression
Meltdown with Fault Prevention
Uncached memory
Uncachable memory
Practical attacks
Locating the victim process
Dumping memory content
Affected by Meltdown
Samsung Galaxy S7
Variant 3a
Is Meltdown (or Spectre) a side-channel attack?
Is Meltdown a variant of Spectre? Is it speculative execution?
Meltdown Mitigation
Kernel Page-table Isolation
Apple
KVA Shadow
Implementing
Total Meltdown
A unique chance