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This post seems to contradict Intel's recent release: > Intel has developed and is rapidly issuing updates for all types of Intel-based computer systems — incl
by chrononaut 9y ago
This post seems to contradict Intel's recent release:
> Intel has developed and is rapidly issuing updates for all types of Intel-based computer systems — including personal computers and servers — that render those systems immune from both exploits (referred to as “Spectre” and “Meltdown”)
That states that Meltdown is specifically addressed and mitigated. However, this post by Google does not indicate that "Variant 3", or "Meltdown", can be addressed by a microcode update:
> Mitigating this attack variant requires patching the operating system. For Linux, the patchset that mitigates Variant 3 is called Kernel Page Table Isolation (KPTI). Other operating systems/providers should implement similar mitigations.
The option of applying a microcode update is explicitly called out for their mitigation of "Variant 2":
> Mitigating this attack variant requires either installing and enabling a CPU microcode update from the CPU vendor (e.g., Intel's IBRS microcode), ...
Am I misreading one of these statements?
- m_mueller 9y agoReading through all this stuff I had similar thoughts. Statements by Google are the most trustworthy at this moment IMO, and they don't add up with what AMD and especially Intel state as far as I can tell.
- nickelbox 9y agoIIUC, you're not misreading. KPTI solves the problem of leaking data from the kernel address space (besides a bare minimum). But this was an issue because Intel was speculatively accessing kernel addresses in the first place.