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Intel distributes microcode updates as a 2,048 (2 kilobyte) binary blob. [1] The update contains information about which processors it is designed for, so that this can be checked against the result of the CPUID instruction. [1] The structure is a 48-byte header, followed by 2,000 bytes intended to be read directly by the processor to be ...
Intel is planning to address Variant 4 by releasing a microcode patch that creates a new hardware flag named Speculative Store Bypass Disable (SSBD). [ 7 ] [ 2 ] [ 12 ] A stable microcode patch is yet to be delivered, with Intel suggesting that the patch will be ready "in the coming weeks".
A microcode update fixing a bug with the eTVB algorithm was published the previous month, but this was confirmed by Intel to not be the root cause of the problem, although it may have been a contributing factor. [43] Intel confirmed that there is no fix to the issue if it already affects a CPU, and any damage to the CPU is permanent.
Intel promised microcode updates to resolve the vulnerability. [1] The microcode patches have been shown to significantly reduce the performance of some heavily-vectorized loads. [7] Patches to mitigate the effects of the vulnerability have also been created as part of the forthcoming version 6.5 release of the Linux kernel. [8]
Intel processor microcode security update (fixes the issues when running 32-bit virtual machines in PAE mode) Notes on Intel Microcode Updates, March 2013, by Ben Hawkes, archived from the original on September 7, 2015; Hole seen in Intel's bug-busting feature, EE Times, 2002, by Alexander Wolfe, archived from the original on March 9, 2003
Intel reported that they are preparing new patches to mitigate these flaws. [24] On August 14, 2018, Intel disclosed three additional chip flaws referred to as L1 Terminal Fault (L1TF). They reported that previously released microcode updates, along with new, pre-release microcode updates can be used to mitigate these flaws. [25] [26]
Without reprogrammable microcode, an expensive processor swap would be required; [36] for example, the Pentium FDIV bug became an expensive fiasco for Intel as it required a product recall because the original Pentium processor's defective microcode could not be reprogrammed. Operating systems can update main processor microcode also. [37] [38]
Intel Transactional Synchronization Extensions (TSX) for the Haswell-EX variant. In August 2014 Intel announced that a bug exists in the TSX implementation on the current steppings of Haswell, Haswell-E, Haswell-EP and early Broadwell CPUs, which resulted in disabling the TSX feature on affected CPUs via a microcode update. [33] [34] [35] [36]