Windows devices with newest CPUs are susceptible to data damage

Microsoft has warned lately that Windows devices with the newest supported processors are susceptible to “data damage” on Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022.

“Windows devices that support the newest Vector Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) (VAES) instruction set might be susceptible to data damage,” the corporate printed lately.

Devices suffering from this newly stated identified factor use AES-XTS (AES XEX-based tweaked-codebook mode with ciphertext stealing) or AES-GCM (AES with Galois/Counter Mode) block cipher modes on new {hardware}.

While Microsoft mentions the data loss dangers on affected methods, the corporate does now not elaborate on what consumers will have to be expecting if they are hit via this factor.

Issue mounted in May and June Windows updates

Microsoft says the problem used to be addressed to save you additional data damage in preview and safety releases issued on May 24 and June 14, respectively.

However, those Windows updates additionally come with a efficiency hit since AES-based operations could be two instances (2x) slower after putting in them on affected methods working Windows Server 2022 and Windows 11 (authentic unlock).

Scenarios impacted via the efficiency hit would possibly come with BitLocker, Transport Layer Security (TLS) (particularly load balancers), and disk throughput (particularly for undertaking consumers).

“We added new code paths to the Windows 11 (original release) and Windows Server 2022 versions of SymCrypt to take advantage of VAES (vectorized AES) instructions,” Microsoft mentioned when describing the reason for the problem.

“SymCrypt is the core cryptographic library in Windows. These instructions act on Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) registers for hardware with the newest supported processors.”

Workaround for the efficiency hit

Customers experiencing efficiency degradation are suggested to set up June 23 preview replace (Windows 11, Windows Server 2022) or the July 12 safety replace (Windows 11, Windows Server 2022) for his or her OS model as a workaround.

Microsoft says those Windows updates will repair preliminary efficiency metrics as soon as put in on affected devices.

“If this affects you, we strongly urge you to install the May 24, 2022 preview release or the June 14, 2022 security release, as soon as possible, to prevent further damage,” Microsoft added.

“Performance will be restored after you install the June 23, 2022 preview release or the July 12, 2022 security release.”