Having initially rolled out a buggy Spectre patch, Intel has now released an updated patch for Skylake CPUs. The updates will be made available through OEM updates so make sure to update soon.
Intel has released a new update for Skylake U, Y, H and S series CPUs to patch the Spectre exploit. The patch will be available through OEM updates so make sure to keep an eye out for an update and download soon. It’s unclear when Broadwell and Haswell will be patched.
Having initially rolled out a patch in January, Intel ended up having to roll back the update after it became apparent the patch had some problems of its own. Microsoft also issued an emergency update which removed Intels’ buggy exploit.
The Spectre exploit became known to the public in at the start of January and uses ‘observable differences’ in branch prediction to reveal what should be private data to attackers. Branch prediction is present in almost all commonly used CPU’s released within the last decade or more including other architectures such as ARM.
Intel isn’t the only company to feel backlash after not handling the exploit appropriately, with Microsoft rolling out an update which rendered some AMD PC’s unbootable and Apple being sued for not informing their users of susceptibility. The situation seemed salient enough that even the US Congress weighed in on the situation.
If you’re still concerned about the exploit, Tails OS 3.5 has a Spectre-proof Linux Kernel and Intel will release chips later this year which will not be susceptible to Spectre or Meltdown.
Source: Intel via PCWorld
