US Patent Application 17828903. DETECTING AND MITIGATING MEMORY ATTACKS simplified abstract

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DETECTING AND MITIGATING MEMORY ATTACKS

Organization Name

Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC==Inventor(s)==

[[Category:Ishwar Agarwal of Redmond WA (US)]]

[[Category:Stefan Saroiu of Redmond WA (US)]]

[[Category:Alastair Wolman of Seattle WA (US)]]

[[Category:Daniel Sebastian Berger of Seattle WA (US)]]

DETECTING AND MITIGATING MEMORY ATTACKS - A simplified explanation of the abstract

This abstract first appeared for US patent application 17828903 titled 'DETECTING AND MITIGATING MEMORY ATTACKS

Simplified Explanation

The present disclosure is about systems and methods implemented on a memory controller to detect and mitigate memory attacks, specifically row hammer attacks.

  • Memory controller tracks activations of row addresses in a memory hardware (e.g., DRAM device).
  • It determines if the pattern of activations indicates a row hammer attack.
  • This is done by using a counting mode for corresponding memory sub-banks.
  • If a likely row hammer attack is detected, the memory controller activates a sampling mode for a specific sub-bank.
  • The sampling mode helps identify which row addresses need to be refreshed on the memory hardware.
  • These implementations provide a low computational cost alternative to heavy-handed detection mechanisms.
  • The alternative does not require significant computing resources to accurately detect and mitigate row hammer attacks.


Original Abstract Submitted

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods implemented on a memory controller for detecting and mitigating memory attacks (e.g., row hammer attacks). For example, a memory controller may track activations of row addresses within a memory hardware (e.g., a DRAM device) and determine whether a pattern of activations is indicative of a row hammer attack. This is determined using a counting mode for corresponding memory sub-banks. Where a likely row hammer attack is detected, the memory controller may activate a sampling mode (rather than the counting mode) for a particular sub-bank to identify which of the row addresses should be refreshed on the memory hardware. The implementations described herein provide a low computational cost alternative to heavy-handed detection mechanisms that require access to significant computing resources to accurately detect and mitigate row hammer attacks.

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