Meltdown theory

Meltdown is a computer security vulnerability that affects many modern processors, allowing malicious programs to access sensitive data stored in protected memory areas. It exploits a feature called speculative execution, where CPUs predict and execute instructions ahead of time to improve performance. Attackers can manipulate this process to read confidential information, such as passwords or encryption keys, from other programs or system processes. Addressing Meltdown requires software patches and hardware updates to restrict unauthorized memory access, balancing improved security with potential performance impacts.