Invited Speaker: Dr. Yanan Guo, University of Rochester

Title: Threads of Trouble: Unveiling GPU Software and Hardware Security Flaws

Abstract

Modern computing systems face significant security challenges. While vulnerabilities in CPUs have been extensively studied, GPUs--an increasingly important component of today's computing platforms--have received much less attention. In this talk, I will present our recent studies that aim to bridge this gap. In the first part, I will discuss our findings on GPU memory management systems and demonstrate how weaknesses in their design can be exploited to compromise GPU applications and, in some cases, even CPU applications. In the second part, I will introduce hardware side channels on modern GPUs and show that, despite the adoption of hardware isolation mechanisms, powerful side-channel attacks can still be launched, which pose serious privacy risks to applications such as video games. Finally, I will conclude the talk with a brief discussion of potential countermeasures and directions for future research in GPU security.

Bio:

Yanan Guo is an Assistant Professor in the CS Department at the University of Rochester. Her research interests lie in computer architecture and cybersecurity, with a goal of building secure, high-performance computing systems. Her work focuses on microarchitectural side channels, memory exploitation, and machine learning security, and she has uncovered multiple vulnerabilities in CPU and GPU system and hardware designs. Her studies have been published in top security and systems venues such as CCS, S and P, USENIX Security, and ASPLOS. Her study on prefetch-based side channels was nominated for Top Picks in Hardware and Embedded Security in 2023, and she received the Best Ph.D. Dissertation Award from IEEE HOST in 2025.