Memory System Benchmarking, Simulation, And Application Profiling Via A Memory Stress Framework


A technical paper titled “A Mess of Memory System Benchmarking, Simulation and Application Profiling” was published by researchers at Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Unversitat Politecnica de Catalunya, and Micron Technology (Italy). Abstract: "The Memory stress (Mess) framework provides a unified view of the memory system benchmarking, simulation and application profiling. The Mess benc... » read more

Rowhammer Exploitation On AMD Platforms, DDR4 DDR5 (ETH Zurich)


A new technical paper titled "ZenHammer: Rowhammer Attacks on AMD Zen-based Platforms" was published by researchers at ETH Zurich. The work will be presented at USENIX Security Symposium in August 2024. Abstract: "AMD has gained a significant market share in recent years with the introduction of the Zen microarchitecture. While there are many recent Rowhammer attacks launched from Intel CPU... » read more

DRAM Chip Characterization Study of Spatial Variation of Read Disturbance and Future Solutions (ETH Zurich)


A new technical paper titled "Spatial Variation-Aware Read Disturbance Defenses: Experimental Analysis of Real DRAM Chips and Implications on Future Solutions" was published by researchers at ETH Zurich. Abstract: "Read disturbance in modern DRAM chips is a widespread phenomenon and is reliably used for breaking memory isolation, a fundamental building block for building robust systems. Row... » read more

How To Stop Row Hammer Attacks


Row hammer is a well-publicized target for cyberattacks on DRAM, and there have been attempts to stop these attacks in DDR4 and DDR5, but with mixed results. The problem is that as density increases, distance decreases, making it more likely that flipped bit cell in one row can disturb a bit cell in another, and that bits flipped across an entire row can flip another row. Steven Woo, fellow and... » read more

DDR Memory Test Challenges From DDR3 to DDR5


Cloud, networking, enterprise, high-performance computing, big data, and artificial intelligence are propelling the development of double data rate (DDR) memory chip technology. Demand for lower power requirements, higher density for more memory storage, and faster transfer speeds are constant. Servers drive the demand for next-generation DDR. Consumers benefit when existing and legacy generati... » read more

An Escalation of Rowhammer To Rows Beyond Immediate Neighbors


Researchers at Graz University of Technology, Lamarr Security Research, Google, AWS, and Rivos presented this new technical paper titled "Half-Double: Hammering From the Next Row Over" at the USENIX Security Symposium in Boston in August 2022. Abstract: "Rowhammer is a vulnerability in modern DRAM where repeated accesses to one row (the aggressor) give off electrical disturbance whose cumu... » read more

ETH Zurich Introduces ProTRR, in-DRAM Rowhammer Mitigation


New technical paper titled "PROTRR: Principled yet Optimal In-DRAM Target Row Refresh" from ETH Zurich. The paper was presented at the 43rd IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (SP 2022), San Francisco, CA, USA, May 22–26, 2022. This new paper introduces ProTRR, an "in-DRAM Rowhammer mitigation that is secure against FEINTING, a novel Rowhammer attack." The related video presentation can... » read more

QUAC-TRNG: High-Throughput True Random Number Generation Using Quadruple Row Activation in Commodity DRAM Chips


Abstract "True random number generators (TRNG) sample random physical processes to create large amounts of random numbers for various use cases, including security-critical cryptographic primitives, scientific simulations, machine learning applications, and even recreational entertainment. Unfortunately, not every computing system is equipped with dedicated TRNG hardware, limiting the applicat... » read more

SMASH: Synchronized Many-sided Rowhammer Attacks from JavaScript


Authors: Finn de Ridder, ETH Zurich and VU Amsterdam; Pietro Frigo, Emanuele Vannacci, Herbert Bos, and Cristiano Giuffrida, VU Amsterdam; Kaveh Razavi, ETH Zurich Abstract: "Despite their in-DRAM Target Row Refresh (TRR) mitigations, some of the most recent DDR4 modules are still vulnerable to many-sided Rowhammer bit flips. While these bit flips are exploitable from native code, tri... » read more

Data Center Evolution: DDR5 DIMMs Advance Server Performance


Driven by a confluence of megatrends, global data traffic is increasing at an exponential rate. For example, 5G networks are enabling billions of AI-powered IoT devices untethered from wired networks. Nowhere is the impact of all this growth being felt more intensely than in data centers. Indeed, hyperscale data centers have become the critical hubs of the global data network. DDR5 DRAM will en... » read more

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