Serious security vulnerability on Intel chips

This article is in the series: Overview of vulnerabilities on Intel, AMD, ARM chips: Meltdown and Specter. Please read all the articles in the series to get information as well as take steps to protect your device against these two serious security holes.

Intel chips have big design flaws and both Microsoft and Linux kernel developers are trying to fix. This vulnerability can be patched, but it makes PC (or Mac) run slower. AMD is not affected but only Intel chips.

It is still unclear how much slower it will be, but a developer said it would be 5% - at least on Linux - some cases could be 30%.

What is happening?

This vulnerability has not been officially announced but may be speculated when looking at recent Linux kernel changes (the official release). Microsoft also made similar changes on Windows, available on Build Insider Preview. Apple will also be forced to change on macOS because this is an error on Intel CPU.

Programs running on the computer must go through security layers, in which kernel OS has the highest permissions, which can restrict these software through hardware on the processor.

But for some reason this restriction does not work properly. So in order to avoid unauthorized software still running on the computer, software is required (via patches).

Either use a machine with a security hole or a secure machine, but a little slower

In the worst case, JavaScript code running on the browser can go to the kernel and access things that should not be accessed. When patched, it will be limited but due to additional steps to check the above activities, the machine will be slower.

How much slower will the computer be?

It is currently unclear how this problem affects normal PC operation.

Linux kernel developer Dave Hansen working at Intel said this change will affect everything. Accordingly, most workloads will be reduced by 1 number, usually 5%, worst by 30%, depending on the task. Most of the tasks involved in calling the system like compiling software, running virtual machines will slow down the most. These are figures for Linux machines and Windows may be different.

When does the PC patch work?

According to The Register, Microsoft will release a patch for the upcoming Patch Tuesday (January 9, 2018). The changes will appear on the upcoming version of the Linux kernel. Apple will probably patch macOS soon.

Even though the device is slow to listen, it is bad, but you should install these patches now. OS developers will not make such big changes if the error is not too serious.

See more:

1. Why Intel killed the BIOS, switched to UEFI?
2. Instructions for viewing Intel microprocessor generation information on Windows computers
3. Microsoft released an emergency security patch for a serious vulnerability