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Consider the case of embedded systems based on ARM Cortex-A8 or M4 series CPU and the target OS an RTOS or embedded Linux. Do both Spectre and Meltdown impact such systems which never allow to install or execute external applications from user? Thanks for the answer.

Rga1
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  • what did you find about speculative execution for those cores when you looked? What protection mechanisms does the m4 really have that you would be worried about (or find a challenge to) hacking? – old_timer Jan 11 '18 at 15:04

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as im learning how this works, let me try to explain how this works. if anyone has an addition to this or if i am wrong at a part, please potice me.

in processors we have a technique called pipelining, it makes the processor more efficient by doing multiple things at a time so it can use as much parts at the same time. for the ease of reading i only notice 3

  1. loading a instruction (witch seems to cost a lot of time)
  2. decompilling the instruction
  3. execute the decompilled execution

becouse of the time between the start of 1 end the end of 3, the processor has go predict witch instruction should be executed a few steps ahead of execution.

meltdown works becouse intel processors dont do the check of certain memory may be available to the processor. there is a workaround with a microcode update let the performance shrink by approximately 30%. but it doent affect your processor

specter ic a colloection of vulnerabilities witch are based of letting the prosessor mispredict the next instruction. this is hard to defend against and it seems to affect every modern processor. pipelining makes processors faster. Every modern processor maker does use it to compeat, and these leagues are the result of a time period where speed is more important then security both on software level and on hardware level. the only thing you can try to prevent it is by keeping your software up to date.

for more info, see https://meltdownattack.com/