Intel Alder Lake Source Code Leaked: Should You Worry?

Data breaches are becoming common with each passing day, as cybercriminals are leaving no vulnerabilities to slip without exploiting them. Now, a file that is over 6GB in size, containing information related to BIOS/UEFI building and optimization source code has been leaked online and is currently available on Reddit and 4chan.

According to reports, the file contains the codebase of the 12th Gen Intel Core Alder Lake processors. Intel has now responded to Tom's Hardware, confirming the leak of Alder Lake source code, and here is the official statement from Intel regarding the incident.

"Our proprietary UEFI code appears to have been leaked by a third party. We do not believe this exposes any new security vulnerabilities as we do not rely on obfuscation of information as a security measure. This code is covered under our bug bounty program within the Project Circuit Breaker campaign, and we encourage any researchers who may identify potential vulnerabilities to bring them our attention through this program. We are reaching out to both customers and the security research community to keep them informed of this situation." - Intel spokesperson

As per the official statement, Intel confirms that the UEFI code has been leaked by a third party. It claims that the "leak" will not lead to any new security vulnerabilities. In fact, Intel also claims that the code is now covered under the bug bounty program (find the bugs and win money from Intel) and it is even suggesting researchers find risks and vulnerabilities within the source code.

It now looks like the security researchers have taken this seriously, as a prominent researcher Mark Ermolov has identified that secret MSRs (Model Specific Registers). Mark believes that MSRs are usually considered as a privileged code and could cause a security problem in the 12th Gen Intel Core series processors.

While Intel has not confirmed the exact source of the leak, the original Reddit post containing the leaked data is being connected to LC Future Center a Chinese laptop ODM that manufactures laptops for brands like Lenovo. In fact, within the leak, users have actually found a tag "Lenovo Feature Tag Test Information."

Right now, if you are using an Alder Lake-based PC or a laptop, there is definitely nothing to worry about. Intel has confirmed that this leak won't cause any harm or will not expose any new security vulnerabilities.

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