Intel is throwing in the towel on some exploited processors...

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neko
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Intel throwing in the towel on some exploited processors...

Post#1 by neko » 07 Jul 2018, 06:48

I don't update my PC's CPU microcode.
Because I am afraid that the update might make my PC be broken.

[my PC environment]
Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU N4200 @ 1.10GHz
Kernel 4.18-rc3

[result of spectre-meltdown-checker]
tool: https://codeload.github.com/speed47/spe ... zip/master

Code: Select all

% su
# uname -m
x86_64
# modprobe configs
# ln -sf /mnt/sda13/porteus/kernel/v4.18-rc3/64/vmlinuz /boot/.
# ./spectre-meltdown-checker.sh
Spectre and Meltdown mitigation detection tool v0.37+

Checking for vulnerabilities on current system
Kernel is Linux 4.18.0-rc3-porteus #1 SMP PREEMPT Mon Jul 2 18:08:03 UTC 2018 x86_64
CPU is Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU N4200 @ 1.10GHz
We're missing some kernel info (see -v), accuracy might be reduced

Hardware check
* Hardware support (CPU microcode) for mitigation techniques
  * Indirect Branch Restricted Speculation (IBRS)
    * SPEC_CTRL MSR is available:  NO 
    * CPU indicates IBRS capability:  NO 
  * Indirect Branch Prediction Barrier (IBPB)
    * PRED_CMD MSR is available:  NO 
    * CPU indicates IBPB capability:  NO 
  * Single Thread Indirect Branch Predictors (STIBP)
    * SPEC_CTRL MSR is available:  NO 
    * CPU indicates STIBP capability:  NO 
  * Speculative Store Bypass Disable (SSBD)
    * CPU indicates SSBD capability:  NO 
  * Enhanced IBRS (IBRS_ALL)
    * CPU indicates ARCH_CAPABILITIES MSR availability:  NO 
    * ARCH_CAPABILITIES MSR advertises IBRS_ALL capability:  NO 
  * CPU explicitly indicates not being vulnerable to Meltdown (RDCL_NO):  NO 
  * CPU explicitly indicates not being vulnerable to Variant 4 (SSB_NO):  NO 
  * CPU microcode is known to cause stability problems:  NO  (model 0x5c family 0x6 stepping 0x9 ucode 0x20 cpuid 0x506c9)
* CPU vulnerability to the speculative execution attack variants
  * Vulnerable to Variant 1:  YES 
  * Vulnerable to Variant 2:  YES 
  * Vulnerable to Variant 3:  YES 
  * Vulnerable to Variant 3a:  YES 
  * Vulnerable to Variant 4:  YES 

CVE-2017-5753 [bounds check bypass] aka 'Spectre Variant 1'
* Mitigated according to the /sys interface:  YES  (Mitigation: __user pointer sanitization)
* Kernel has array_index_mask_nospec (x86):  YES  (1 occurrence(s) found of 64 bits array_index_mask_nospec())
* Kernel has the Red Hat/Ubuntu patch:  NO 
* Kernel has mask_nospec64 (arm):  NO 
> STATUS:  NOT VULNERABLE  (Mitigation: __user pointer sanitization)

CVE-2017-5715 [branch target injection] aka 'Spectre Variant 2'
* Mitigated according to the /sys interface:  YES  (Mitigation: Full generic retpoline)
* Mitigation 1
  * Kernel is compiled with IBRS support:  YES 
    * IBRS enabled and active:  NO 
  * Kernel is compiled with IBPB support:  YES 
    * IBPB enabled and active:  NO 
* Mitigation 2
  * Kernel has branch predictor hardening (arm):  NO 
  * Kernel compiled with retpoline option:  YES 
    * Kernel compiled with a retpoline-aware compiler:  YES  (kernel reports full retpoline compilation)
> STATUS:  NOT VULNERABLE  (Full retpoline is mitigating the vulnerability)
IBPB is considered as a good addition to retpoline for Variant 2 mitigation, but your CPU microcode doesn't support it

CVE-2017-5754 [rogue data cache load] aka 'Meltdown' aka 'Variant 3'
* Mitigated according to the /sys interface:  YES  (Mitigation: PTI)
* Kernel supports Page Table Isolation (PTI):  YES 
  * PTI enabled and active:  YES 
  * Reduced performance impact of PTI:  NO  (PCID/INVPCID not supported, performance impact of PTI will be significant)
* Running as a Xen PV DomU:  NO 
> STATUS:  NOT VULNERABLE  (Mitigation: PTI)

CVE-2018-3640 [rogue system register read] aka 'Variant 3a'
* CPU microcode mitigates the vulnerability:  NO 
> STATUS:  VULNERABLE  (an up-to-date CPU microcode is needed to mitigate this vulnerability)

> How to fix: The microcode of your CPU needs to be upgraded to mitigate this vulnerability. This is usually done at boot time by your kernel (the upgrade is not persistent across reboots which is why it's done at each boot). If you're using a distro, make sure you are up to date, as microcode updates are usually shipped alongside with the distro kernel. Availability of a microcode update for you CPU model depends on your CPU vendor. You can usually find out online if a microcode update is available for your CPU by searching for your CPUID (indicated in the Hardware Check section). The microcode update is enough, there is no additional OS, kernel or software change needed.

CVE-2018-3639 [speculative store bypass] aka 'Variant 4'
* Mitigated according to the /sys interface:  NO  (Vulnerable)
* Kernel supports speculation store bypass:  YES  (found in /proc/self/status)
> STATUS:  VULNERABLE  (Your CPU doesn't support SSBD)

> How to fix: Your kernel is recent enough to use the CPU microcode features for mitigation, but your CPU microcode doesn't actually provide the necessary features for the kernel to use. The microcode of your CPU hence needs to be upgraded. This is usually done at boot time by your kernel (the upgrade is not persistent across reboots which is why it's done at each boot). If you're using a distro, make sure you are up to date, as microcode updates are usually shipped alongside with the distro kernel. Availability of a microcode update for you CPU model depends on your CPU vendor. You can usually find out online if a microcode update is available for your CPU by searching for your CPUID (indicated in the Hardware Check section).

A false sense of security is worse than no security at all, see --disclaimer
Thanks.