Yes, the danger is overstated. But what is worrisome is that for such a long time nobody ever nmotices.
One might wonder if there are other things the CPU can do that are not well known? Would there be some hidden danger?
Years ago some CPUs had undocumented instructions in the code set and hobbyists loved to speculate of what they might do.
Modern CPU designs are so very complex that it would very very hard to verify that a design does not have a vulnerability that might show how be exploited.
Here is an article that explains this statement:
A CPU Researcher Explains Why It Took 22 Years to Discover Fundamental Chip Flaw In this context the term 'clup flaw' does not mean something went bad in the factory that makes the chips. No, rather, it is behavior that is thought to be worrisome or unwanted.
To me, a layman, it’s odd that CPUs require so much research, since the architecture is designed by humans. Why do they require so much outside research to sort of understand what they’re doing?
Because CPUs are remarkably complex.
...
I’ve seen people writing that Spectre and Meltdown are a result of chip manufacturers favoring speed over security.
I’m not sure because I’m not really a CPU designer and the topic is ridiculously complex, but my guess is that they could have done something relatively easy. I’m not trying to say that Intel can do something about it in a short time frame because that’s an entirely different question, but I would guess they were taken by surprise by that.
You will find no simple answers.
Well, not simple answer of amazing value.