Intel urges halt to installing its Meltdown/Spectre patches

After getting reports 11 days ago that some Intel-based computers were undergoing high amounts of reboots after installing patches to fix the Meltdown/Spectre vulnerabilities the chipmaker has asked infosec pros and vendors to stop using the fix until it has been fixed.

“We recommend that OEMs, cloud service providers, system manufacturers, software vendors and end users stop deployment of current versions, as they may introduce higher than expected reboots and other unpredictable system behavior,” Navin Shenoy, executive vice-president and general manager of Intel’s data center group, said in a release Monday.

The problem specifically involves PCs and servers on Intel’s fifth generation Core Broadwell and fourth-generation Haswell platforms, roughly released starting between 2013 and 2015. There was no indication of when Intel will release an updated fix, although the industry is very concerned about the ability of attackers to exploit the vulnerabilities. Intel has asked its partners to focus on testing early versions of the updated fix so it can accelerate the release.

“For those concerned about system stability while we finalize the updated solutions,” Shenoy added, “we are also working with our OEM partners on the option to utilize a previous version of microcode that does not display these issues, but removes the Variant 2 (Spectre) mitigations. This would be delivered via a BIOS update, and would not impact mitigations for Variant 1 (Spectre) and Variant 3 (Meltdown).”

“We believe it is important for OEMs and our customers to follow this guidance for all of the specified platforms listed below, as they may demonstrate higher than expected  reboots and unpredictable system behavior.  The progress we have made in identifying a root cause for Haswell and Broadwell will help us address issues on other platforms. Please be assured we are working quickly to address these issues.”

Intel has a full list of affected systems here.

This comes after Red Hat said it has stopped distributing its fix for the Spectre variant 2 vulnerability for users of Red Hat Enterprise Linux “due to instabilities introduced that are causing customer systems to not boot.”   Customers are advised to contact their silicon vendor to get the latest microcode for their particular processor.

Would you recommend this article?

Share

Thanks for taking the time to let us know what you think of this article!
We'd love to hear your opinion about this or any other story you read in our publication.


Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

Featured Download

Howard Solomon
Howard Solomon
Currently a freelance writer, I'm the former editor of ITWorldCanada.com and Computing Canada. An IT journalist since 1997, I've written for several of ITWC's sister publications including ITBusiness.ca and Computer Dealer News. Before that I was a staff reporter at the Calgary Herald and the Brampton (Ont.) Daily Times. I can be reached at hsolomon [@] soloreporter.com

Featured Articles

Cybersecurity in 2024: Priorities and challenges for Canadian organizations 

By Derek Manky As predictions for 2024 point to the continued expansion...

Survey shows generative AI is a top priority for Canadian corporate leaders.

Leaders are devoting significant budget to generative AI for 2024 Canadian corporate...

Related Tech News

Tech Jobs

Our experienced team of journalists and bloggers bring you engaging in-depth interviews, videos and content targeted to IT professionals and line-of-business executives.

Tech Companies Hiring Right Now