Security News ECC Memory Vulnerable to Rowhammer Attack

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The technique exploits a design flaw in the way memory cells that store the data are organized in a DRAM module. Because the cells are too close together, the researchers found that if they bomb the same area with enough read-write operations, they can modify the in-memory information.

Hammering one location this way causes a change in the value of the data bits in its proximity from one to zero and vice-versa. This effect is known as bit-flipping and it can serve an attacker to at least trigger a denial-of-service condition; greater possible risks include increased privileges on the machine, or hijack a device.