Hardware security flaw impacts Intel Apollo Lake & Gemini Lake processors

Hardware security flaw intel-atom, celeron, pentium Apollo Lake, Gemini Lake

A few years go the Spectre and Meltdown hardware security vulnerabilities impacted a wide range of processors from Intel, AMD, Arm, and others. But a newly discovered hardware security flaw impacts specifically the Atom, Celeron, and Pentium from the Apollo Lake, Gemini Lake, Denverton … low-power processors we often feature on CNX Software. Researchers have managed to activate test or debug logic at runtime for some low-power Intel processors, which they could use to escalate privilege, retrieve the “fuse encryption key” aka “chipset key fuse” unique to each processor, and access encrypted data. Most people do not need to panic though, as the hack would require physical access to the machine, and Intel says it is releasing firmware updates to mitigate the vulnerability. High-value targets should care though as the hack only takes 10 minutes, and if a laptop is stolen or lost, a skilled attacker should be able to […]

Intel Seamless Update to enable BIOS/UEFI firmware updates without a reboot

Intel Seamless Update - MM Runtime Update System

Updating the BIOS/UEFI binary usually requires a reboot, but Intel is working on changing that, at least on Linux servers for now, with the Intel Seamless Update aiming to carry out system firmware updates (e.g. UEFI) at run-time without having to reboot, a bit like what Canonical does with the Ubuntu Livepatch service, but at a lower level in the software stack. Intel submitted a patch that “Introduces Platform Firmware Runtime Update and Telemetry drivers” to the Linux kernel mailing list a couple of days ago with the description reading in part: High Service Level Agreements (SLAs) requires that the system runs without service interruptions. Generally, system firmware provides runtime services such as RAS (Reliability, Availability and Serviceability) features, UEFI runtime services and ACPI services. Currently if there is any firmware code changes in these code area, the system firmware update and reboot is required. Example of bug fix could […]

BrakTooth vulnerabilities impact closed-source Bluetooth stacks used in chips from Espressif, Intel, Qualcomm…

BrakTooth

BrakTooth is a family of new security vulnerabilities in commercial, closed-source Bluetooth Classic stacks that range from denial of service (DoS) via firmware crashes and deadlocks to arbitrary code execution (ACE) in certain IoT devices. A team from Singapore has discovered 16 new security vulnerabilities after evaluating 13 Bluetooth devices from 11 vendors, but after browsing through the list of certified Bluetooth devices with impacted processors, they estimate it could impact 1400 devices. We can see the list of BrakTooth-impacted SoCs include some familiar names like Intel AX200 (found in many laptops and computers through M.2 cards), Espressif Systems ESP32, Texas Instruments CC2564C, Qualcomm CSR8811/CSR8510, Bluetrum AB32VG1 board (based on AB5301A SoC) which I’ve just reviewed, and more… The good news is that most vendors have either already submitted a patch or working on it. Espressif, Infineon (previously Cypress), and Bluetrum already have released patchsets for their firmware. It’s really […]

Intel NUC P14E Laptop Element features Intel NUC 11 Compute Element

Intel NUC Laptop NUC 11 Compute Element

Intel NUC P14E Laptop Element is a 13-9-inch modular laptop equipped with the same Intel NUC 11 Compute Element found in the Intel NUC 11 Enthusiast Phantom Canyon NUC11PHKi7C. The NUC 11 Compute Element “Elk Bay” is a U-Series Compute Element (95 x 65 x 6 mm) offered with a choice of Tiger Lake processors ranging from an Intel Celeron 6305 chip to a Core i7-1185G7 processor combined with up to 16GB RAM.  The card also includes a WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 module, a Gigabit Ethernet transceiver, and supports PCIe x4 Gen 3 and Thunderbolt 4. Intel NUC P14E Laptop Element (CMCN1CC) specifications: Computer module – NUC 11 Compute Element with 11th generation Tiger Lake Celeron to Core-i7 processor 4 GB to 16 GB LPDDR4x 4266 MHz 256 Mbit Flash EEPROM with Intel Platform Innovation Framework for EFI Plug and Play Intel AX201 wireless module for WiFi 6 up […]

RealSense end-of-life – Intel is phasing out its RealSense 3D depth cameras

realsense end-of-life

We covered Intel Realsense technology ever since it was unveiled at CES 2014 with a 3D depth camera and Nuance Dragon Assitant voice technology for various AI applications including robotics, digital signage, and 3D scanners. Our last post was in January 2021 about a Rockchip RK3399 based industrial-grade 3D vision camera together with Intel’s announcement of RealSense ID facial authentication. But RealSense is going away according to a report by CRN explaining Intel was phasing out RealSense AI depth cameras. The email from Intel reads in part: We are winding down our RealSense business and transitioning our computer vision talent, technology and products to focus on advancing innovative technologies that better support our core businesses and IDM 2.0 strategy … We will continue to meet our commitments to our current customers and are working with our employees and customers to ensure a smooth transition The transition will be orderly as […]

Overview and List of System-on-Module and Computer-on-Module Standards – Q7, SMARC, COM HPC, and More

QSeven_vs_SMARC

A System-on-Module (SoM), also known as a Computer-on-Module (CoM), is a small board with the key components of a computer such as SoC, memory, and possibly others components such as PMIC (Power Management IC), an Ethernet PHY, as well as one or more connectors used to connect to a baseboard, also called carrier board, which features standard ports such as Ethernet (RJ45), USB ports, SATA, power jack and so on. The advantages of using of baseboard + SoM design compared to a single board are at least twofold: Most of the PCB design complexity is often around the CPU/SoC and high-speed buses connected to the CPU/SoC. So you could buy an SoM, design your own baseboard and get a complete design relatively in a short amount of time, with reduced development resources and costs. The design is modular, so you could easily upgrade from one SoM to another one. For […]

25-45W Intel Tiger Lake-H Xeon, Core, and Celeron embedded processors coming soon

Intel Tiger Lake-H module block diagram

While doing some research, I noticed an Intel Core i7-11850HE “Tiger Lake-H” processor on the OpenVino Toolkit website. Parts that end with “E” are usually processors designed for the embedded market. I had never heard about the Tiger Lake-H embedded family, so I looked for “i7-11850HE” processor, and it’s not in Intel Ark, or much anywhere else except on a page in Google Cache, about a COM-HPC module “with the 11th Gen Intel® Xeon® W-11000E Series, Core™ vPro® and Celeron® processors (formerly Tiger Lake-H) for FuSa application”. There we have a list of Xeon, Core, and Celeron 11th generation processors that I don’t think have ever been announced: Intel Celeron 6600HE dual-core processor @ 2.6GHz with 8MB L3 Cache, 35W TDP Intel Core i3-11100HE processor with 4 cores / 8 threads @ 2.4GHz (up to 4.4GHz in Turbo Boost) with 8MB L3 Cache, 45/35W cTDP Intel Core vPRO i5-11500HE processor […]

Intel packaging & process roadmap to 2025 and beyond

Intel Process Technology History

Intel has a mixed history with its ability to keep production schedules for new processes, with notably its 10nm process suffering from years of delays before finally being deployed into chips. But the US company has now held an event unveiling the process & package roadmap through 2025 and beyond, which includes 7nm, 4nm, 3nm, and even the switch the angstrom scale (1A = 0.1 nm) with a 20A process expected in 2024/2025. Intel Process roadmap to 2025 and beyond On the process node sides of things, here’s what to expect in the next few years: Intel 7 delivers 10% to 15% performance-per-watt improvements, and will be found in Alder Lake for client in 2021 and Sapphire Rapids for the data center, with the latter expected to be in production in Q1 2022. Intel 4 promises a 20% performance-per-watt increase over Intel 7, and is the first Intel FinFET node […]

EmbeddedTS embedded systems design