«We've now completed release
of microcode updates for Intel microprocessor products launched in the last 9 + years that required protection against the side - channel vulnerabilities discovered by Google Project Zero,» said Intel in a statement to Threatpost.
Intel says it has given PC makers a new set
of microcode updates that mitigate the branch target injection Spectre attack on its 6th, 7th, and 8th generation Intel Core chips.
«We've now completed release
of microcode updates for Intel microprocessor products launched in the last 9 + years that required protection against the side - channel vulnerabilities discovered by Google,» said an Intel spokesman.
We've now completed release
of microcode updates for Intel microprocessor products launched in the last 9 + years that required protection against the side - channel vulnerabilities discovered by Google.
Not exact matches
However, as indicated in our latest
microcode revision guidance, we will not be providing
updated microcode for a select number
of older platforms for several reasons, including limited ecosystem support and customer feedback.
Additional versions
of Windows 10 are now protected from these attacks, and Microsoft has begun releasing Intel
microcode updates directly, but only for a small number
of devices.
A full list
of available Intel
microcode updates by Window 10 version can be found in KB4093836.
«After a comprehensive investigation
of the microarchitectures and
microcode capabilities for these products, Intel has determined to not release
microcode updates for these products,» Intel says in its latest guidance.
Today, we are announcing the expansion
of devices covered by Windows security
updates by removing the anti-virus compatibility check for Windows 10 devices, expanding the availability
of Intel
microcode updates in the Microsoft Catalog, and adding coverage for x86 editions
of Windows 71 and Windows 8.1.
We will continue to broaden the number
of Intel
microcode updates available via the catalog as they become available to Microsoft from Intel.
The
microcode updates have been shipped to Intel's hardware partners, some
of which have already begun passing them along to customers.
While the Windows
update fixed the Meltdown problem, CPU
microcode updates from Intel delivered via a UEFI or BIOS
update are needed to fully enable protection against one
of the Spectre attacks.
As
of February 20, Intel has released stable
microcode updates for Skylake, Kaby Lake, and Coffee Lake — that's the 6th, 7th, and 8th Generation Intel Core platforms.
Although most devices will receive this class
of updates via firmware provided by the device manufacturer, Microsoft says it will offer additional
microcode updates from Intel through that KB article «as they become available to Microsoft.»
On Tuesday, HP pulled its softpaqs BIOS
updates with Intel's patches from its website, and on Thursday will release a BIOS
update with a previous version
of Intel's
microcode.
On January 22, three weeks after releasing
microcode updates to address the speculative execution side - channel vulnerabilities, Intel advised PC makers to halt the deployment
of its Spectre patches due to unexpected system reboots and in some instances data loss.
The chipmaker's recently
updated microcode revision guidance indicates that most
of its platforms from the past decade now have production - ready patches to mitigate the Spectre attack.
«After a comprehensive investigation
of the microarchitectures and
microcode capabilities for these products, Intel has determined to not release
microcode updates for these products for one or more reasons including, but not limited to the following:
The mitigations for Meltdown and Spectre have involved a combination
of software fixes, such as Microsoft and Linux versions
of «kernel page table isolation», and hardware fixes such as Intel's
microcode updates.
The new
microcode updates seem stable and we haven't seen reports
of widespread problems.
On Microsoft's official documentation page, Microsoft says it «is not aware
of any issues that affect this
update currently,» but also that you should «consult with your device manufacturer's and Intel's websites regarding their
microcode recommendation for your device before applying this
update to your device.»
This is a little bit
of a cop out, as your PC manufacturer probably will not recommend installing a
microcode update unless they're the ones providing it to you.
Intel this week indicated that it isn't planning to release
microcode updates for some
of its processors to prevent Spectre attack methods.
Intel has finally released stable
microcode updates for Broadwell and Haswell processor series to mitigate the second variant
of the nasty Spectre security vulnerability unearthed last month.
Users are urged to install the latest
microcode firmware
update for their processors if a stable version is available from Intel's website or through the software repositories
of their respective operating system.
Intel has been working day and night since the discovery
of these flaws and it's still releasing
updated microcode firmware for various
of its CPU series.
All
of the fixes have OS kernel components, and some
of the fixes are combined with processor
microcode updates in addition to kernel
updates.
Of course, Intel is already pushing out Spectre (and Meltdown) patches itself, with numerous processor families seeing
microcode updates released in the past few weeks; but Intel doesn't supply these directly to end users.
On that side
of the equation, Microsoft has also moved forward, with the company announcing that it has increased the number
of Intel
microcode updates that are available from the Microsoft Catalog.
In new
microcode revision guidance released by the chipmaker, Intel added a «stopped» status to its
microcode updates relating to the Meltdown and Spectre flaws, which would suggest that it won't be issuing patches to fully mitigate the vulnerabilities affecting a large number
of its microprocessors.
The company says that after comprehensive investigation
of the
microcode, the company has decided not to release
microcode updates for the below products.
Intel has announced the release
of production
microcode updates to its manufacturing customers and partners for Kaby Lake and Coffee Lake - based platforms, as well as additional Skylake - based platforms.
Intel has halted patches for an array
of older chips that would protect them againstthe Spectre vulnerability, according to a recent
microcode update.
Intel has officially pushed out
microcode updates with Spectre and Meltdown mitigations for all
of the processors it launched in the past...
«After a comprehensive investigation
of the microarchitectures and
microcode capabilities for these products, Intel has determined to not release
microcode updates for these products,» Intel said.
Intel has officially pushed out
microcode updates with Spectre and Meltdown mitigations for all
of the processors it launched in the past five years.
While industry partners had been working on developing the corresponding mitigations for the critical hardware - based flaw, which could not be delivered as a
microcode update, the issue was substantial enough to prompt Microsoft to release the patch yesterday, ahead
of next week's scheduled Patch Tuesday.
The full list
of firmware
updates is available in «KB4090007: Intel
microcode updates.»
bleepingcomputer.com - In a press release on Tuesday, Intel announced it resumed the deployment
of CPU
microcode firmware
updates.
In a separate but related release, Microsoft announced it is significantly expanding the number
of Intel - validated
microcode updates it's making available through the Microsoft Catalog site.
In addition to installing the
microcode updates, full protection requires modifications to the Windows registry, as described in a pair
of technical articles that cover Windows client software and Windows Server releases.
«We have now released
microcode updates for 100 percent
of Intel products launched in the past five years that require protection against the side - channel method vulnerabilities discovered by Google,» Intel CEO Brian Krzanich announced in a Thursday blog post.
We also continue to release beta
microcode updates so that customers and partners have the opportunity to conduct extensive testing before we move them into production,» Navin Shenoy, executive vice president and general manager
of the Data Center Group at Intel Corporation, explained.
Intel released
microcode updates to address Spectre vulnerability (CVE -2017-5715) for many
of its chipsets including the recently announced...