A meltdown in computer architecture, as spectre haunts intel. Amazon unveils new fire hd 8 tablet with faster processor, usbc may. All that is technically meant by the term is that the execution of machine instructions on a computer is not actually intended to be all that secure or reliable. Its the oldest story in technology and perhaps in human existence. Speculative execution is an optimization technique where a computer system performs some task that may not be needed. A meltdown in computer architecture, as spectre haunts. Well have compiler bugs for sure i write compilers but we fix them. Listen up, you computer nerds and programmming cattle. Part of the lecture notes in computer science book series lncs, volume 0.
Aws recently published aws security bulletin aws20180 for the newly disclosed research regarding sidechannel analysis via speculative execution on modern computer processors. Palnitkar prentice hall, 2003 provides a good introduction to verilog2001 well suited for the beginner. Ooo execution is an execution model in which instructions can be executed in an order that is potentially different from the program order. If youre looking for a free download links of inside the machine. Decoupled memory access architectures with speculative pre. May 16, 2019 every single highend cpu architecture today amd, arm, ibm, intel, sparc uses outoforder execution. We have developed projects with institutional organisations including the queensland government, brisbane city council, museum of brisbane. Speculative execution is not really about computer machine architecture at all. The concept behind speculative execution is that instructions.
Outoforder execution an overview sciencedirect topics. Speculative execution in highperformance computer architectures. Spring 2020 cs3853 computer architecture speculative execution and security 39 speculative execution is an optimization technique where a computer system performs some task that may not be needed or should not be executed. Every single highend cpu architecture today amd, arm, ibm, intel, sparc uses outoforder execution. Speculative execution is extensive in modern processors. All that is technically meant by the term is that the execution of machine instructions on a computer is not actually intended to. Introduction 11 it deals with data path design and data ow control concepts and introduces the need of microoperations for a processor. Technically, ooo is the ability to move execution between different dependency chains, so skipping an inst and moving to the next one. This text will also serve as a useful resource for all computer professionals and engineers who need an overview or introduction to computer architecture. Memory address prediction for data speculation springerlink.
Chen, and jason flinn department of electrical engineering and computer science university of michigan abstract speculator provides linux kernel support for speculative execution. Emphasizing both underlying theory and actual designs, the book covers a wide array of topics and links computer architecture to other subfields of computing. Speculative execution in high performance computer architectures describes many recent advances in speculative exec. Another form of spec exec is branch prediction, another is walking the page tables ahead of time. Speculation also known as speculative loading, is a process implemented in explicitly parallel instruction computing epic processors and their compiler s to reduce processormemory exchanging bottlenecks or latency by putting all the data into memory in advance of an actual load instruction. One could design a processor this ooo but not speculative or speculative but inorder. If the branch prediction was correct, the result is used, otherwise it is discarded.
The spear speculative pre execution assisted by compiler is a further variation of the hidisc architecture. Speculative execution is an optimization technique where a computer system performs some. Speculative execution in modern computer architectures. While performing outoforder execution, it may happen that the processor arrives at a branch for which the condition is dependent on values that are yet to be computed in preceding instructions. Until now, there were few textbooks that focused on the dynamic subject of speculative execution, a topic that is crucial to the development of. Speculative execution in high performance computer architectures. Warter n, chang p, mahlke s, chen w and hwu w 1995 three architectural models for compilercontrolled speculative execution, ieee transactions on computers, 44. Processors can take more risks with instruction ordering when it comes to execution because, if things dont work out as planned, they can roll. Speculative execution and outoforder execution are orthogonal. Computer architecture and parallel processing guide books. It covers cuttingedge research projects, as well as numerous commercial implementations that demonstrate the value of this latencyhiding technique. Speculative execution in high performance computer architectures describes many recent advances in speculative execution techniques.
The concept behind speculative execution is that instructions are executed ahead of knowing that they are required. When they generate code, compilers take a best guess at the best order for instructions but have to err on the safe side. Speculative architecture is a collaborative studio practice, led by dirk yates, that specialises in the design and delivery of public and educational buildings. At this stage the processor has two choices, either wait for the preceding instructions to complete and incur a huge. The first book to describe some of the speculative execution techniques used to overcome performance problems in modern computer architectures, this book discusses research projects and commercial. Brief history of computer architecture predication and speculation compiling for ia64 b a s1 c move code above a split cs553 lecture predication and speculation 3 a brief history of computer architecture the early years. If the compiler did not hoist that code then there is a compiler bug, not an architecture problem. To me, outoforder execution is a form of speculative execution speculating that the inflight insts wont have side effects relevant to the new insts. Predication and speculation department of computer.
A technique allows a superscalar processor to keep its functional units as busy as possible by executing instructions before it is known that they will be needed. Computer architecture download ebook pdf, epub, tuebl, mobi. Spring 2020 cs3853 computer architecture speculative execution and security 34 speculative execution is an optimization technique where a computer system performs some task that may not be needed or should not be executed. Were all getting quite the lesson in speculative execution today, and why faster isnt always better. From microprocessors to supercomputers provides a comprehensive introduction to this thriving and exciting field.
Parts of the computer and microprocessor programming fundamentals arithmetic instructions, memory accesses, control flow instructions, and data types intermediate and advanced microprocessor concepts branch prediction and speculative execution. Ece 4750 computer architecture, fall 2019 course syllabus verilog book verilog hdl. May 14, 2019 this vulnerability is a variant of the spectre variant 1 speculative execution side channel vulnerability and has been assigned cve20191125. A handson approach utilizing the 80x86 microprocessor family 3rd edition computer organization and design, fourth edition. On july 9, 2019 we released security updates for the windows operating system to help mitigate this issue. Speculative execution article about speculative execution. We define boosting, an architectural mechanism for speculative execution, that allows us to uncover. In a race to make things faster and better and stronger, weve once again stumbled into danger, or flown too close to the sun. Intel analysis of speculative execution side channels download pdf white paper. Computer architecture books meet your next favorite book. It is developed to use the benefit of prefetching capability of the hidisc on the current multithreaded processors such as simultaneous multithreading or chip multiprocessor.
It allows multiple processes to share speculative state. Speculative execution goes one step further and determines what the result would be from executing the next instructions. Provides an analysis of speculative execution security risks based on sidechannel analysis methods documented by. In general, the optimizations discussed in this chapter focus on avoiding the overhead associated with a branch. This exploit, coupled with a sidechannel attack, can lead to the exposure and theft of critical secret information. By exploiting the speculative execution of modern processors, spectre attack can trick the system into executing instructions that are not supposed to be executed given the current system state 22. While speculative execution never hurts performance, it can be poorly utilized by software, leading to a high performance opportunity cost, that is, the performance that could have been achieved had the code been tuned better.
Every single highend cpu architecture today amd, arm, ibm. Jan 04, 2018 were all getting quite the lesson in speculative execution today, and why faster isnt always better. This book examines computer architecture, computability theory, and the history of computers from the perspective of minimalist computing a framework in which the instruction set consists of a single instruction. Swarup bhunia, mark tehranipoor, in hardware security, 2019. Speculative execution an overview sciencedirect topics. Speculative execution has been in the news of late, typically when. Architecture of the hewlettpackards pa8200 processor. This vulnerability is a variant of the spectre variant 1 speculative execution side channel vulnerability and has been assigned cve20191125.
And speculative execution, while implemented differently from company to company, is. Until now, there were few textbooks that focused on the dynamic subject of speculative execution, a topic that is crucial to the development of high performance computer architectures. Almost none of the major computer architecture conferences in recent years can go without including some papers touched on the subject of speculative execution. Work is done before it is known whether it is actually needed, so as to prevent a delay that would have to be incurred by doing the work after it is known that it is needed. Speculative execution plays a key role in the meltdown and spectre attacks. The spear speculative preexecution assisted by compiler is a further variation of the hidisc architecture. Computer systems, computer programming, computer science book 1 introduction to the intel family of microprocessors. This approach is different than that taken in any other computer architecture text, and it is a bold step. Incidentally, the purpose of the mill deferred load facility is to mask the l1 and l2 latencies, not to mask the dram latency. Processor speculative execution operating system updates aws recently published aws security bulletin aws20180 for the newly disclosed research regarding sidechannel analysis via speculative execution on modern computer processors.
Jan 22, 2018 speculative execution plays a key role in the meltdown and spectre attacks. A superscalar processor can fetch, decode, execute, and retire, e. These modifications are layered on top of the sanctum secure processor architecture that offers strong provable isolation of software modules running concurrently and sharing resources. Ece 4750 computer architecture, fall 2019 course syllabus. Branch prediction is a type of speculative execution. Speculative execution arvind computer science and artificial intelligence laboratory m. Speculative execution in a distributed file system edmund b. Note that speculative execution can be applied even if there isnt an actual conditional branch in the code. Speculative execution in high performance computer. Sep 26, 2014 if the compiler did not hoist that code then there is a compiler bug, not an architecture problem. An illustrated introduction to microprocessors and computer architecture pdf, epub, docx and torrent then this site is not for you. Description structured computer organization, specifically written for undergraduate students, is a bestselling guide that provides an accessible introduction to computer hardware and architecture.
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