Clever Hack Finds Mystery CPU Instructions

I like the phrase "hugged to death" as a more generic version of "slashdotted" personally. It's a shame but /. is no longer the web powerhouse that it used to be, though I still read it regularly just because it will sometimes have stories and things I don't otherwise find in places like reddit or hn.

BruceEel3• 5 years ago

agreed!

anaganisk• 5 years ago

Contrary to popular belief, HN traffic is not as huge as people think for the hug of death. Its the reddit traffic, when people either repost or post at both places. HN can barely send 5 users per second, which can surely be handled by a potato.

jshmrsn• 5 years ago

While I certainly have no need to find undocumented x86 instructions, I do find this style of explanation great learning a bit about how processors work (something I would like to learn more about).

crdotson• 5 years ago

I know very little about this field, but I guess I’m surprised that the table of instructions can’t be found by looking at a microcode update file.

dboreham• 5 years ago

Aren't those encrypted?

colejohnson66• 5 years ago

Yes, but also: the update file doesn’t contain everything, but just what needs changing. So if these undocumented ones aren’t in the file, that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

billytetrud• 5 years ago

Isn't having undocumented opcodes a huge red flag for security?

Clever Hack Finds Mystery CPU Instructions

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