Users have cried foul after AMD removed memory crypto from consumer CPUs

Limoncello quickly replied: “I’m sorry; that’s the end of Kilpatrick’s discussion and questioning.”

Lendacky’s review in 2020 Kilpatrick came this thread discussion of encryption available in AMD CPUs. Lendacky said the Ryzen 3700x, a consumer CPU, “should support TSME.” In a 2025 comments in the same thread, the engineer followed up on his comment about the 3700x.

“I recommend using TSME (Transparent SME), but it’s a BIOS option that needs to be disclosed by the BIOS provider,” said Lendacky in response to a question about a consumer device.

There is no indication that AMD has ever announced or marketed TSME as being available in consumer CPUs. AMD has long stated that memory-related security, Secure Memory Encryption (SME), is only available on Pro and Epyc CPU units. SME is managed by OS. It uses a single key and allows the OS to automatically encrypt memory pages. TSME is managed by firmware. It saves all the RAM without affecting the OS. When active, it provides protection against physical threats, including cold jumps, DRAM status checks, and memory sector deletion. It runs silently when enabled in the BIOS, making it the most effective of the two security options.

Comments from AMD experts, such as those mentioned above, and TSME’s years of successful work on low-cost processors, have led Kilpatrick and other users to view it as an expected part of the chip package. AMD is quietly withdrawing and providing an acknowledgment or explanation that affects users as a dishonest product.

“They wouldn’t have realized that they did it to get a response, or they would have done it on purpose and tried to escape, which led to the same response,” Joe Fitzgerald, a silicon security expert, said in an interview, referring to AMD’s possible actions in removing TSME. “But I feel like the explanation should be correct, even though ‘TSME shouldn’t have been supported. We sent firmwares that supported it incorrectly, but you shouldn’t use them as we can’t guarantee that they will work properly.’