New Spectre v2 attack variant leaks Linux root password hash in minutes

A new Branch Target Reuse (BTR) attack recovers root password hashes on Intel computers running Linux in 3-5 minutes on average. The Spectre v2 variant bypasses existing mitigations, exploiting JIT engines to leak kernel memory. Researchers demonstrated the attack, raising urgent concerns for Linux security and prompting calls for updated CPU microcode and software patches.