Major flaw in millions of Intel chips revealed

[hunter]

A serious flaw in the design of Intel's chips will require Microsoft, Linux and Apple to update operating systems for computers around the world.

Intel has not yet released the details of the vulnerability, but it is believed to affect chips in millions of computers from the last decade.

The UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said it was aware of the issue and that patches were being produced.

Some experts said a software fix could slow down computers.

--more--

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42553818

The immediate fix may slow down your Intel-based computer 5-30%

The Microsoft Windows patch comes Tuesday. Even if the patch does slow down software you use regularly it's still better to apply the patch than the alternative of not updating your operating system.

The Amazon "cloud" is updating Friday. It will be interesting to see if services utilizing Amazon's cloud suffer slowdowns, including Amazon itself and Netflix.

As an ordinary computer user there's not much you can do about this but watch and update your Intel machines when the patch is ready.

The bug in the hardware is a bad one, potentially allowing passwords and such to be stolen, or malevolent software to be installed, but I haven't heard of any bad guys exploiting it yet.

[Egnever]

1. Ouch

Makes me glad I have been an AMD guy for years.

Just built my first intel system a month ago for one of my kids cause an i5 fell into my lap.

Don't hate intel just AMD has consistently delivered the better value.

[lpbk2713]

2. The North Koreans have been busy.

...

[regnaD kciN]

3. 5-30%? Time to get my Commodore Amiga out of storage...

[NCjack]

4. Gee, thanks, Intel. Instead of a good replacement chip, we will get a crummy software patch. nt

[Eugene]

5. Intel says other vendors' chips are affected. AMD denies it.

Source: PC World

Intel responds to the CPU kernel bug, downplaying its impact on home users

Intel claimed the patches for the CPU vulnerability, due next week, would bring a negligible performance hit to the average user. It was also quick to position the bug as an industry-wide problem.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.pcworld.com/article/3245508/components-processors/intel-responds-to-the-cpu-kernel-bug.html

[Eugene]

6. Update: Every device made in the last 20 years may be vulnerable.

Source: The Verge

Processor flaw exposes 20 years of devices to new attack

Chipocalypse now

By Russell Brandom@russellbrandom Jan 3, 2018, 5:23pm EST

All week, the tech world has been piecing through rumors of a potentially catastrophic flaw in an entire generation of processors — but with all developers subject to a non-disclosure agreement, there were few hard facts to go on.

Now, new details have emerged on how severe and far reaching the vulnerability truly is. ZDNet and the New York Times are reporting that two critical vulnerabilities — dubbed “Meltdown” and “Spectre” — affect nearly every device made in the past 20 years. The vulnerabilities allow an attacker to compromise the privileged memory of a processor by exploiting the way processes run in parallel. The result, one researcher told ZDNet, is that "an attacker might be able to steal any data on the system.”

The researchers have created a website with more details on Meltdown and Spectre - https://meltdownattack.com/. Its FAQ, like many security-related FAQs, is simultaneously comforting and hair-raising. It starts with “Am I affected by the bug? Most certainly, yes.” It notes that there are patches for Meltdown for Windows, Linux, and macOS. It also notes that that Spectre, though harder for a hacker to implement, is more problematic: “As it is not easy to fix, it will haunt us for quite some time.”

Intel chips have been at the focus of initial research and subsequent reporting on the vulnerability, although it remains unclear whether non-Intel chips could be susceptible. In a public statement, Intel said “many different vendors’ processors and operating systems... are susceptible to these exploits.” AMD has denied any of its processors are vulnerable, although Google researchers say they’ve demonstrated a successful attack on AMD’s FX and PRO CPUs. ARM has also confirmed that its Cortex-A processors are vulnerable.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/3/16846840/intel-arm-processor-flaw-chipocalypse-windows-macos-linux