A patch?.......................
Posted on 02/08/2018 1:35:43 PM PST by bitt
Intel has started releasing new microcode updates that should address one of the Spectre vulnerabilities after the first round of patches caused significant problems for many users.
The company has so far released new firmware updates only for its Skylake processors, but expects updates to become available for other platforms as well in the coming days. Customers and partners have been provided beta updates to ensure that they can be extensively tested before being moved into production.
The chipmaker started releasing microcode patches for the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities shortly after the attack methods were disclosed by researchers. However, the company was forced to suspend updates due to frequent reboots and other unpredictable system behavior. Microsoft and other vendors also disabled mitigations or stopped providing firmware updates due to Intel’s buggy patches.Intel provides new microcode updates for Skylake CPUs
Intel claims to have identified the root of an issue that caused systems to reboot more frequently after the patches were installed.
The company initially said only systems running Broadwell and Haswell CPUs experienced more frequent reboots, but similar behavior was later observed on Ivy Bridge-, Sandy Bridge-, Skylake-, and Kaby Lake-based platforms as well.
The problem appears to be related to the fix for CVE-2017-5715, one of the flaws that allows Spectre attacks, specifically Spectre Variant 2. Meltdown and Variant 1 of Spectre can be patched efficiently with software updates, but Spectre Variant 2 requires microcode updates for a complete fix.
(Excerpt) Read more at securityweek.com ...
ping
So, when is Intel going to manufacture CPU’s that don’t have this flaw and do not require a patch?
A patch?.......................
With this much of a micro architecture change, plus it would most likely be a full mask change plus validation time....
I’d say 1.5 years minimum.
It takes almost 6 months for the wafers to come out of fab with modern submicron process.
When the NSA or Beijing come up with a better back-door.
Firmware update for CPUs? Never knew that was possible. Figured maybe the chipset.
Most of them seem to be included in Bios updates.
meanwhile iOS source code has been leaked into the wild ...
my old XP doesn’t get win updates anymore but DID get some Office updates the other day that really helped it get back to processsing speed - I thought it was the chip problem, originally..
Thanks to bitt for the ping!
Yeah, the article says “patch”, but I don’t really think that microcode is patchable - it’s burnt into the chip AFAIK.
I don’t think the author knows what microcode is.
Every Intel microprocessor out since around 2002 has allowed firmware updates thru updating the BIOS.
There are also wired fuse settings on-die which allow processor features to be enabled-disabled during testing time.
The goal is to optimize the number of die thru the system and allow different products to be created off a single generic die.
It is not used on all product lines but many of them
Microcode is patchable on many issues.
The Floating point bug, for instance was not patchable as when the error occurred, it did not throw an exception flag.
It was a fundamental logic bug which required a re-design to correct.
You would be surprised at how many design errors have been fixed by using microcode updates on Intel processors.
I used to work for them in design
Is that to say the Intel CPU incorporates programmable characteristics — something like an Altera or Xylinx FPGA?
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