Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities Intel (and AMD) Chip Bug

Anonymous
2018-01-04T01:54:57+00:00

A lot of noise on the internet, after Intel confirm that chips have a bug:

https://newsroom.intel.com/news/intel-responds-to-security-research-findings/ 

This post is to bring some light on this.

1- Intel says is not only their chips affected

2- PCID (Process-Context Identifiers), a chip feature,  has a bug that allow apps (malware) to read data

3- Process-context identifiers (PCIDs) are a facility by which a logical processor may cache information for multiple linear-address spaces. The processor may retain cached information when software switches to a different linear address space with a different PCID.

4- Macintosh and Linux OS are also affected.

Rumors:

1- If you have Haswell (4th-gen) or newer, PCID (Process-Context Identifiers) is enabled. 

2- After apply the patch, performance is going to be slower on newer CPU. Around 5 to 10%.

2- Still if you have older CPU, performance will be affected worse than newer CPUs.

3- To be affected you must have a OS 64 bits. {Correction: 32bits has vulnerability, MS still working on this)

Just as I'm writing this, Linus Torvalds and his team are working on this too:

https://lkml.org/lkml/2018/1/2/703

https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/20180102222354.qikjmf7dvnjgbkxe%40alap3.anarazel.de

Can we get a word from Microsoft?

For windows, What patch is going to address this? (Update: Patch links and KB are listed on postings)

Is that is going to be on the Montly Rollup and/or Security only patches? (Update: See the links posted)

If performance is going to suffer, can we be able to uninstall such patch? (Update: Microsoft published a document about it, See the links posted)

Please, any info will be appreciated.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Security and privacy

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-01-09T15:45:16+00:00

    Just to add to the confusion, Microsoft just announced that block the Jan updates on some AMD chips, due to some nasty BSOD.

    Microsoft has reports of some customers with AMD devices getting into an unbootable state after installing this KB.   To prevent this issue, Microsoft will temporarily pause Windows OS updates to devices with impacted AMD processors at this time.

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4056894/windows-7-update-kb4056894

    Be careful!. Test before you deploy on your computers.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-01-09T15:47:37+00:00

    Oh boy...Thanks for the update I had not heard that yet.

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-01-09T15:59:40+00:00

    This is not the first time AMD Processors have caused problems with Windows Updates.

    Back in 2010 we were all having fun with this: https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c01457284

    Meanwhile since ARM and INTEL are willing to spend a few bucks to protect their users WE are patched. Recent HP computers have switched to INTEL BECAUSE of that incident in 2010.

    So THAT'S alright.

    For the rest...watch your COMPUTER manufacturer's websites and Microsoft for updates and patches.

    Doesn't look like Advanced Micro Devices plans to do **** for their users.

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-01-09T16:49:27+00:00

    On the good news, I can confirm that (free) Avast works with the Jan patches.

    You need to update to the latest version, Engine 17.9.2322, Definition 180108-4:

    Other versions, the install just fails.

    I see no penalty performance, so far.

    Just saying. Hope that helps!

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  5. Anonymous
    2018-01-10T01:32:30+00:00

    I have playing with the PS Script (yeah, because Symantec still haven't released a 100% safe update yet), and found out that Microsoft just released this document that explains how to interpret the results.

    Speculation Control Validation PowerShell Script

    For example:

    BTIHardwarePresent: True -> apply OEM BIOS/firmware update

    BTIWindowsSupportPresent: True -> install January 2018 update

    BTIWindowsSupportEnabled: True -> on client, no action required. On server, follow guidance.

    BTIDisabledBySystemPolicy: False -> ensure not disabled by policy.

    BTIDisabledByNoHardwareSupport: False -> ensure OEM BIOS/firmware update is applied.

    KVAShadowRequired: True or False -> no action, this is a function of the CPU the machine uses

    If KVAShadowRequired is TRUE

    KVAShadowWindowsSupportPresent: True -> install January 2018 update

    KVAShadowWindowsSupportEnabled: True -> on client, no action required. On server, follow guidance.

    KVAShadowPcidEnabled: True or False -> no action , this is a function of the CPU the machine uses

    Maybe you want to read the document, before you run it in your enviroment:

    Understanding the output of the Get-SpeculationControlSettings PowerShell script

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