When a Patch is Not Enough - HardFails: Software-Exploitable Hardware Bugs.

Modern computer systems are becoming faster,more efficient, and increasingly interconnected with each generation. Consequently, these platforms also grow more complex,with continuously new features introducing the possibility of newbugs. Hence, the semiconductor industry employs a combinationof different verification techniques to ensure the security ofSystem-on-Chip (SoC) designs during the development life cycle.However, a growing number of increasingly sophisticated attacksare starting to leverage cross-layer bugs by exploiting subtle interactions between hardware and software, as recently demonstratedthrough a series of real-world exploits with significant securityimpact that affected all major hardware vendors.