Hardware Backdoors Found in Some x86 CPUs

Hardware backdoors in some x86 CPUs

A researcher has uncovered a hardware backdoor in certain x86 processors, including VIA C3 chips, that allows unprivileged code to bypass protection and access kernel data. The backdoor, enabled by default on some systems, is a hidden non-x86 core that can be activated with a special instruction. The project provides tools to detect and close the vulnerability, along with research on the deeply embedded instruction set.