x86 CPU Critical Flaw

Tech Support
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TL;DR -
When your Motherboard BIOS releases an update for this --get it.
When your OS releases an update for this – get that too.
When you Phone releases an update for this – you get the idea!

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“Meltdown” and “Spectre” bugs in INTEL, AMD and ARM CPUs - Hardware and software vendors have released software patches to get around this problem.

At home take extra precautions: Patches should only come from official sources like the manufacturer of your Computer (Apple, DELL, HP, Lenovo, etc) or the developers of your Operating System (Microsoft Windows 7/8/10 or Apple MacOS).

If you have Safari, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Mozilla, Opera or Edge browser(s) installed. Use the update option found in the menu of each application. (If you have them installed. Update them all. Even the one you’re not using; I’m looking at you IE…)

If you have an Android phone, updates should be available through your settings menu.
Androids use ARM CPUs, the problem has been patched in the January 5th Update.

If you have an Apple iPhone, updates should be available through your settings menu.
iPhones use modified ARM CPUs, the problem has been patched in iOS 11.2
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Meltdown & Spectre FAQ - meltdownattack.com/?utm_source= … i=59802381

“x86 Processors allow for minor software updates from within the motherboard BIOS specific to the processor stepping. The processor stepping is similar to a hardware version…”

Google’s take on the situation - security.googleblog.com/2018/01 … -need.html

Google’s tech dump on the issues discovered so far - googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/ … -side.html

Microsoft Guidance - support.microsoft.com/en-us/hel … -execution

In recent news - It has been disclosed that INTEL, AMD, and ARM chips have a critical flaw in their x86 Chip design.

Microsoft, Linux devs, and Apple are all scrambling to get this patched quickly.
(Some Linux distros already have their patches live, as of a week or two ago)
theregister.co.uk/2018/01/0 … sign_flaw/
pythonsweetness.tumblr.com/post/ … page-table

This new Kernel Page Table Isolation flaw is far more critical to everyone.
If you bought or built an x86 (Intel) PC in the last 10-years & that PC runs a Windows, Apple, or Linux flavor OS - this is important to you.

Amazon EC2, Google Compute Engine, Microsoft Azure, and IBM Cloud are all potentially vulnerable to attack until this is patched.

Other articles for reference:
eweek.com/security/kpti-inte … rity-risks
hothardware.com/news/intel-cpu- … dows-macos
9to5mac.com/2018/01/02/intel-cp … -for-macs/
pcgamesn.com/intel-cpu-pti-security-bug

Some light tech reading - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel_pa … _isolation

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  • Google’s overview on what it found
  • Google tech dump
  • Microsoft’s Security Guidance
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  • Meltdown & Spectre FAQ - Basically if your computer has malware, that virus could use one of these attack vectors.
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  • Phone update reminder to TL;DR
  • Expanded information on patching OS, Apps and Mobile devices.
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Just dropping this here before anyone takes it at face value. There is a rumor making the rounds today about additional intel bugs/vulnerabilities, calling them Skyfall and Solace. There are many good reasons to suspect this is a hoax or worse, so avoid following links to unfamiliar sites looking for info.

Toward the end of this article they are mentioned
gizmodo.com/intel-claims-90-per … 1822192075

If anyone has any real info from a trusted source, please add it.

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And one more thing on a fake patch

blog.malwarebytes.com/cybercrim … ke-loader/

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Thanks Nomedias.

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And to add more confusion, Intel is now asking everyone to hold off on BIOS updates until they can fix the reboot issues.

security-center.intel.com/advis … geid=en-fr

bbc.com/news/technology-42788169

bleepingcomputer.com/news/s … s-updates/

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businessinsider.com/intel-sa … 018-1?op=1

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Updating on this issue, as since the last post we made here, 4th gen and up Intel systems have been getting BIOS fixes that do not have the issues of the previous BIOS updates. These combined with OS updates should protect against the known exploits. I’d recommend looking up you motherboard or system and see what is available.

As for older systems, per this post even older systems are listed as “In Process”, meaning they are waiting on microcode patches from Intel. Interestingly, some of these are Core2Duo based PCs.

dell.com/support/article/us/ … ts?lang=en