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SamsungGranted patentSecurity & privacyInterest 4/10

Samsung patents memory trick to stop row hammer attacks

This patent describes a method for computer memory to track which rows are accessed most often. It swaps the tracking data for the most-accessed row with other entries in a table to hide the pattern from attackers.

Why it mattersIt adds a layer of protection against a known type of memory attack that can potentially steal data or cause system crashes.

In the filing’s own words

A method of controlling a row hammer swaps a first address entry with a second address entry having the smallest second access number and randomly swaps the first address entry with a third address entry having a third access number which is not the greatest value, in an address table representing a correlation between an address entry accessed during a row hammer monitoring time frame and an access number, thereby preventing a hacker-pattern row hammer aggression from being easily performed.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A method of operating a memory device including a plurality of memory cell rows, the method comprising: monitoring a first row address, corresponding to a first address entry, with respect to a first memory cell row from among the plurality of memory cell rows during a row hammer monitoring time frame; selecting a second address entry having a second access number, which is the smallest access number in an address table, from the address table based on there being no free space in the address table; performing a first swap operation related to the first address entry and the second address entry; randomly selecting a third address entry having a third access number, which does not have the greatest value in the address table, from the address table; performing a second swap operation related to the first address entry and the third address entry; and refreshing a memory cell row physically adjacent to another memory cell row corresponding to an address entry having the greatest access number stored in the address table during the row hammer monitoring time frame.

Facts

Company
Samsung (SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.)
Official title
Memory device and method of controlling row hammer
Patent number
US12744077B2
Application number
18669714
Filed
May 21, 2024
Granted
Sep 22, 2026
Inventors
2
Claims
20

Classified under

G11C 11/4087 Physics & computingG11C 11/406 Physics & computing
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.