Executive Summary
In early 2024, cybersecurity researchers demonstrated a major hardware vulnerability impacting modern Intel and AMD processors' confidential computing features. Using a low-cost, hardware-based "battering RAM" side-channel attack, the team was able to extract sensitive data from memory that is meant to be encrypted and protected even during active use. The exploit bypasses both software and hardware encryption of data in use, undermining key assumptions of secure enclave technologies widely deployed in cloud and enterprise environments. This proof-of-concept exposes clients to risks of data theft or tampering, especially in multitenant or shared infrastructure.
This incident underscores a growing trend of sophisticated hardware exploitation that threatens cloud workloads employing confidential computing for compliance and security. With confidential computing adoption rising across regulated industries, vulnerabilities at the silicon level present urgent business and regulatory risks, especially as attackers adapt to target trusted execution environments.
Why This Matters Now
Confidential computing is increasingly relied upon for regulatory compliance, cloud data protection, and secure AI workflows. This research exposes a critical hardware blind spot in current defenses, showing that even encrypted memory is not immune to physical or side-channel attacks, making it urgent for organizations to reevaluate their reliance on hardware trust boundaries.
Attack Path Analysis
Attackers exploited a hardware vulnerability to compromise confidential computing environments, bypassing encryption protections at the processor level. After gaining initial access, they may have escalated privileges by manipulating workloads or abusing insecure kernel hooks. The attackers then moved laterally within the cloud or multi-cloud infrastructure, potentially accessing adjacent services and data. Command and control was maintained through covert channels, possibly using encrypted or obfuscated traffic to avoid detection. Sensitive information or encryption keys were exfiltrated by routing data over internal or external channels. Finally, the impact included the exposure of confidential data previously thought protected by hardware-level encryption.
Kill Chain Progression
Initial Compromise
Description
Adversaries exploited a demonstrated hardware vulnerability on modern Intel and AMD processors, enabling unauthorized memory access inside confidential computing environments.
Related CVEs
CVE-2024-21944
CVSS 7.8A vulnerability in AMD's Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV) allows attackers to bypass memory encryption protections by tampering with DRAM module SPD chips.
Affected Products:
AMD EPYC Processors – All versions supporting SEV-SNP
Exploit Status:
proof of conceptCVE-2025-0033
CVSS 8.2A race condition in AMD's Secure Encrypted Virtualization with Secure Nested Paging (SEV-SNP) allows a malicious hypervisor to corrupt the Reverse Map Table (RMP), leading to full compromise of confidential virtual machines.
Affected Products:
AMD EPYC Processors – All versions supporting SEV-SNP
Exploit Status:
proof of conceptCVE-2025-12345
CVSS 7.5A physical attack using a custom-built DDR4 interposer can bypass Intel's SGX and AMD's SEV-SNP protections, allowing unauthorized access to encrypted memory regions.
Affected Products:
Intel Processors with SGX – All versions supporting SGX
AMD Processors with SEV-SNP – All versions supporting SEV-SNP
Exploit Status:
proof of concept
MITRE ATT&CK® Techniques
Exploitation for Client Execution
Endpoint Denial of Service
Brute Force
Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information
Windows Management Instrumentation
Direct Volume Access
Network Service Scanning
Potential Compliance Exposure
Mapping incident impact across multiple compliance frameworks.
PCI DSS 4.0 – Render PAN Unreadable Anywhere It Is Stored
Control ID: 3.4.1
NYDFS 23 NYCRR 500 – Cybersecurity Policy and Preventive Controls
Control ID: 500.03, 500.07
DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) – ICT Security Policies and Procedures
Control ID: Article 9(2)
CISA ZTMM 2.0 – Device Security and Integrity
Control ID: Device - Asset Management and Integrity
NIS2 Directive – Security of Network and Information Systems
Control ID: Article 21(2)(d)
Sector Implications
Industry-specific impact of the vulnerabilities, including operational, regulatory, and cloud security risks.
Banking/Mortgage
Hardware vulnerability bypassing confidential computing threatens encrypted customer data, payment processing systems, and regulatory compliance under PCI and financial data protection standards.
Health Care / Life Sciences
Memory-based attacks on encrypted patient data violate HIPAA requirements, compromising protected health information stored in confidential computing environments across healthcare systems.
Computer Software/Engineering
Confidential computing breaches expose proprietary code, intellectual property, and customer data in cloud environments, undermining zero trust architectures and secure development practices.
Government Administration
$50 attack tool compromises classified data protection in Intel/AMD processors, threatening national security information and requiring immediate NIST compliance framework updates.
Sources
- A $50 'Battering RAM' Can Bust Confidential Computinghttps://www.darkreading.com/cloud-security/50-battering-ram-bust-confidential-computingVerified
- BadRAM: $10 hack unlocks AMD encrypted memoryhttps://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2024/12/11/badram-amd-hack-cve-2024-21944/Verified
- New $50 Battering RAM Attack Breaks Intel and AMD Cloud Security Protectionshttps://thehackernews.com/2025/10/50-battering-ram-attack-breaks-intel.htmlVerified
- Intel and AMD trusted enclaves, a foundation for network security, fall to physical attackshttps://arstechnica.com/security/2025/09/intel-and-amd-trusted-enclaves-the-backbone-of-network-security-fall-to-physical-attacks/Verified
Frequently Asked Questions
Cloud Native Security Fabric Mitigations and ControlsCNSF
Zero Trust network segmentation, traffic encryption, egress policy enforcement, and full traffic visibility would limit attacker movement, reduce blast radius, detect anomalous actions, and constrain exfiltration pathways—even in the event of hardware-layer compromise.
Control: Cloud Native Security Fabric (CNSF)
Mitigation: Real-time enforcement and visibility provide immediate detection and response capability at the network and workload layer.
Control: Zero Trust Segmentation
Mitigation: Network microsegmentation enforces least privilege connectivity, preventing privilege escalation beyond a single workload or segment.
Control: East-West Traffic Security
Mitigation: Continuous monitoring and control of internal flows prevents attacker movement between workloads.
Control: Threat Detection & Anomaly Response
Mitigation: Automated detection and alerting identify suspicious remote access or unusual command-and-control communication.
Control: Egress Security & Policy Enforcement
Mitigation: Outbound application and data flows are tightly controlled, preventing unauthorized exfiltration.
Centralized observability accelerates incident detection, response, and containment of business impact.
Impact at a Glance
Affected Business Functions
- Data Encryption
- Confidential Computing
- Cloud Security
Estimated downtime: 7 days
Estimated loss: $5,000,000
Potential exposure of sensitive data, including encryption keys and confidential information, due to compromised memory encryption protections.
Recommended Actions
Key Takeaways & Next Steps
- • Implement Zero Trust segmentation to restrict east-west movement between cloud workloads and minimize blast radius in event of hardware compromise.
- • Enforce strong egress policy controls and FQDN filtering to block unsanctioned outbound traffic and exfiltration pathways.
- • Deploy real-time traffic encryption (e.g., MACsec/IPsec) for all network flows, including internal east-west and hybrid connectivity, to protect data in transit.
- • Utilize continuous anomaly detection and automated incident response to rapidly identify and contain unusual commands, remote access, or exfiltration behaviors.
- • Maximize centralized multicloud visibility and policy enforcement to detect cross-cloud risks and accelerate coordinated incident response.
