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What concepts should a newbie(someone who doesn't have too much knowledge about computer architecture, user/kernel space, memory etc.) understand if he wants to know how Metldown/Spectre works?

I would say :

  1. out of order execution
  2. user/kernel space and how they interact
  3. a little bit of how processors work

Anything else?

Sam Stewart
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  • Yeah, that and virtual address spaces. I think Meltdown is easier to understand that Spectre, so start with that. Meltdown is a specific vulnerability, while Spectre is a class of vulnerabilities. – paj28 Dec 05 '19 at 15:21
  • Doing the background research on those topics, in general and not necessarily as they relate specifically to Meltdown or Spectre, might be a good place to start as that will help him better understand. There are also great videos on the internet that use graphical representations to explain how both of those side-channel attacks work. – J9Fackque Dec 05 '19 at 15:30

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