# An accessible explanation of the Spectre and Meltdown CPU vulnerabilities

DevFeed: [An accessible explanation of the Spectre and Meltdown CPU vulnerabilities](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/spectre-meltdown-tapping-into-the-cpu-s-subconscious-thoughts-36545.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/spectre-meltdown/>)

Published: 2018-01-06T09:34:05Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Bert Hubert's writings](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/bert-hubert-s-writings.md>)

Topics: [Security](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/security.md>), [Vulnerabilities](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/vulnerabilities.md>), [cpu](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/cpu.md>), [Architecture & Design](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/architecture-design.md>)

Tags: [accessible](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/accessible.md>), [cpu](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cpu.md>), [cyber](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cyber.md>), [processor](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/processor.md>), [programming](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/programming.md>), [security](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/security.md>), [vulnerabilities](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/vulnerabilities.md>)

## AI overview

An accessible explanation of the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities, including how CPU out-of-order execution improves processing speed while remaining hidden from executing programs.

## Source excerpt

Comments are very welcome on bert@hubertnet.nl or @bert_hu_bert. Update: several constructive remarks have been used to improve this text. Thanks! In this post I will attempt to fully explain the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities in an accessible way. I decided to write it up after I realised it took me more than a day to figure it out, even though I've been doing security related stuff on CPUs for 20 years.