A new attack method called SmashEx exploits critical vulnerabilities, affecting Intel SGX (Software Guard eXtensions) processor enclaves, and has been identified by researchers to have the capability of allowing an attacker to access sensitive information, as well as the ability to execute arbitrary code on the target system. An enclave is cryptographically secure location within the computer’s CPU that allows the operating system and other applications to store sensitive data there. The SmashEx attack exploits enclave SDKs to take advantage of a feature that allows the CPU to pause the SGX operations, allowing the attacker to bypass the cryptography to identify and pilfer RSA encryption keys from an enclave. The attack exploits two vulnerabilities within Intel SGX SDK, and the Open Enclave SDK, tracked as CVE-2021-0186 and CVE-2021-33767 respectively. Both Intel and Microsoft have released patches that mitigate these vulnerabilities, and users are urged to upgrade to the latest stable version as soon as possible.