It is well known that processor caches can be used for side channel attacks to leak data from a vulnerable system. However, it is also largely assumed that this requires a somewhat reliable clock in order to measure execution times of individual or a small number of cache operations.
This talk explains a different approach using cache eviction that allows to amplify the signal such that an arbitrarily (im)precise clock is sufficient. The talk also explains the applicability of this technique against WebAssembly execution engines, and in particular the Internet Computer and how it defends against this problem.
Presenter: Helge Bahmann, Senior Researcher at DFINITY
