Items tagged with meltdown
Intel has been taking heat for patches that it deployed for the Spectre and Meltdown chip flaws. Recently deployed patches have resulted in some systems being subjected to random rebooting. However, Linus Torvalds is blasting Intel for another consequence of its patching regimen. In Torvalds' words, the patches are...
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Intel has a pretty big Spectre/Meltdown problem on its hands. The company over the past few weeks has issued patches to help mitigate the processor vulnerabilities, but those patches have resulted in frequent reboots of both older (Broadwell, Haswell) and newer (Skylake, Kaby Lake) processors, and everything in...
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AMD is facing a class action lawsuit related to recently disclosed chip vulnerabilities that have companies scrambling to release security patches. Those patches can potentially hamper performance, though the ire of the lawsuit against AMD is that it initially kept quiet about its chips being susceptible to both...
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Intel last week acknowledged that firmware updates intended to mitigate the security threats posed by Meltdown and Spectre were causing reboot issues in both client and data center computers powered by Broadwell and Haswell processors. Now it turns out that PCs running newer generation CPUs are experiencing "more...
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There are a number of ways to tell if your computer is vulnerable to the Spectre or Meltdown security exploits that have been making rounds over the last several weeks. For instance, Microsoft has a tool that will analyze your rig and tell you, but it is a PowerShell script that gives you results that you almost need...
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Forget about planning just for Patch Tuesday, the second Tuesday of every month when Microsoft issues security updates to Windows users. As companies scramble to mitigate Meltdown and Spectre, you should be planning for Patch January, and maybe February as well. Case in point, ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI have all now...
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With most of the attention focused on Intel with regards to Meltdown and Spectre -- Intel is the only chip OEM that is affected by both vulnerabilities -- the company has done its best to try to be as transparent as possible about how it issues firmware updates and patches for affected systems.
Roughly a week ago...
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When the news of Meltdown and Spectre processor vulnerabilities first started making the round, Intel by far received the brunt of the hits with regards to negative reaction from customers and the press. Intel processors are susceptible to both Meltdown and Spectre, so that accounts for some of the reaction. However...
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Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease. Just ask the affected users of older AMD systems who had their PCs bricked after downloading and installing a Windows update that was supposed to protect them from Meltdown and Spectre. It is not just Windows users who are suffering, either. Some Ubuntu Xenial 16.04 users...
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There has been a lot of talk in recent days about what kind of performance impact that security patches for Meltdown and Spectre would have on overall system performance, with some reports suggesting that some systems could face up to a 30 percent hit. When Intel made its first comments on the matter a week ago, it...
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There is a lot of buzz surrounding Meltdown and Spectre, two recently disclosed chip vulnerabilities that have hardware and software makers scrambling to release patches to deal with the situation. What is not fully known yet is what performance impact these patches will have. Regardless of how all it shakes out, some...
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The PC industry is still trying to come to grips with the fallout from the revelation of the Meltdown and Spectre chip vulnerabilities. Meltdown only affects Intel processors, while Spectre -- the more serious exploit -- affects processors from Intel, AMD, and ARM. Hardware OEMs and OS manufactures have banded...
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Microsoft certainly meant well by releasing patches to address the serious Meltdown and Spectre chip security vulnerabilities that have been making news for the past week. However, the company's efforts to put the kibosh on Meltdown and Spectre had the unfortunate side effect of crippling many machines running AMD...
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Late last week, Apple confirmed that its iOS-based iPhones and iPads along with its Mac computers are vulnerable to the Meltdown and Spectre exploits (which we have covered in great detail over the past week). At the time, Apple confirmed that it silently introduced “mitigations” in previous updates to iOS, macOS and...
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Microsoft has begun rolling out security patches to deal with Meltdown and Spectre, the names given to a pair of vulnerabilities that between the two affect practically every modern processor made by Intel, AMD, and ARM. Intel seems to be the most impacted of them all, though some AMD users are suffering from the...
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Chip-level bugs Meltdown and Spectre continue to land chip-maker Intel in hot water. What do you do when every single chip you’ve produced since 1995 is now facing two of the most pervasive bugs your company has possibly ever experienced? Linux creator Linus Torvald brazenly suggests, honesty and complete candid...
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Unless you perform high level calculations on an abacus, chances are high that yes, you are affected by the recently disclosed Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities. Between the two, practically every modern processor is vulnerable, including Intel CPUs dating back more than a decade, along with AMD and ARM chips. And...
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Security researchers this week dropped a bombshell on pretty much everyone who owns a computer, saying there are inherent flaws in modern processors that could allow an attacker to access sensitive information, including passwords and other contents stored in what's supposed to be protected memory. At first it was...
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The tech industry is still trying to recover from the fallout surrounding the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities that were disclosed this week. Intel, AMD, Apple, Microsoft, ARM, and other key players in the hardware and software arena have been working for months in secret to patch the exploits, but keen...
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If you've been following the tech or security news for the past few days, then you no doubt know of a security vulnerability that reportedly affects all Intel processors. OS vendors have been working to mitigate the issue with kernel patches, but those software Band-Aids can come with some performance handicaps as a...
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