Modern DRAM devices (PC-DDR4, LPDDR4X) are affected by a vulnerability in their internal Target Row Refresh (TRR) mitigation against Rowhammer attacks. Novel non-uniform Rowhammer access patterns, consisting of aggressors with different frequencies, phases, and amplitudes allow triggering bit flips on affected memory modules using our Blacksmith fuzzer. The patterns generated by Blacksmith were able to trigger bitflips on all 40 PC-DDR4 DRAM devices in our test pool, which cover the three major DRAM manufacturers: Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron. This means that, even when chips advertised as Rowhammer-free are used, attackers may still be able to exploit Rowhammer. For example, this enables privilege-escalation attacks against the kernel or binaries such as the sudo binary, and also triggering bit flips in RSA-2048 keys (e.g., SSH keys) to gain cross-tenant virtual-machine access. We can confirm that DRAM devices acquired in July 2020 with DRAM chips from all three major DRAM vendors (Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron) are affected by this vulnerability. For more details, please refer to our publication.
This vulnerability carries a CRITICAL severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 9.0, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network but requires specific conditions to be met without requiring user interaction and does not require pre-existing privileges . The vulnerability impacts confidentiality (data exposure), integrity (unauthorized modifications), and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 12 products from samsung, from samsung, from samsung and 9 others, organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.
Reported in 2021, this vulnerability emerged during an era marked by increased sophistication in supply chain attacks, cloud infrastructure vulnerabilities, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) security challenges. Security practices during this period emphasized zero-trust architectures, container security, and API protection.
2021-11-16T12:15:06.817
2024-11-21T06:27:17.380
Modified
CVSSv3.1: 9.0 (CRITICAL)
AV:A/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
5.5
10.0
| Type | Vendor | Product | Version/Range | Vulnerable? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating System | samsung | ddr4_sdram_firmware | - | Yes |
| Hardware | samsung | ddr4_sdram | - | No |
| Operating System | samsung | lddr4_firmware | - | Yes |
| Hardware | samsung | lddr4 | - | No |
| Operating System | micron | lddr4_firmware | - | Yes |
| Hardware | micron | lddr4 | - | No |
| Operating System | micron | ddr4_sdram_firmware | - | Yes |
| Hardware | micron | ddr4_sdram | - | No |
| Operating System | skhynix | ddr4_sdram_firmware | - | Yes |
| Hardware | skhynix | ddr4_sdram | - | No |
| Operating System | skhynix | lddr4_firmware | - | Yes |
| Hardware | skhynix | lddr4 | - | No |
SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For samsung's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.