Collide+Power is a significant vulnerability found in nearly all modern CPUs, as reported by SecurityWeek. This flaw lies within the software design and implementation of these CPUs and allows for data leakage through a side-channel attack. The method used to exploit this vulnerability involves filling targeted CPU components, such as the CPU cache, with attacker-controlled data, thereby exploiting the build and shared components of the CPUs.
The Collide+Power vulnerability has two distinct variants. In Variant 1, the victim program consistently accesses critical secret data like decryption keys to encrypt or decrypt large volumes of data. This constant interaction with sensitive information provides an opportunity for the attacker to intercept and misuse this data. This vulnerability's exploitation poses a severe risk to both personal and corporate data security, highlighting the need for immediate remediation measures.
Despite its severity, the naming of the Collide+Power vulnerability has caused some confusion due to the inclusion of a punctuation character (the plus sign) which is unconventional in bug naming. This peculiarity has presented challenges when registering it as an internet domain. Nonetheless, the primary focus remains on addressing the vulnerability itself, and efforts are underway to develop and distribute patches to secure the affected CPUs against this threat.