• Intel says its new Spectre-busting Skylake firmware patch is ready

    Posted on February 8, 2018 at 07:08 CST by • Comment in the Forums

    Oh boy. I love the smell of fresh bricked PCs in the morning.

    Yesterday, Intel said it has released new firmware that — this time, really, for sure, honest — plugs the Meltdown/Spectre security hole. Says honcho Navin Shenoy:

    Earlier this week, we released production microcode updates for several Skylake-based platforms to our OEM customers and industry partners, and we expect to do the same for more platforms in the coming days.

    What he’s actually saying is something like, “Hey, we spent six months coming up with new firmware to fix Spectre, released it, and bricked a bunch of machines. We went back to the drawing board and, two weeks later, came up with new firmware that won’t brick your machines. Have at it.”

    According to the freshly updated Microcode Revision Guidance, Intel has released updates for Skylake U-, Y-, U23e-, H-, and S- chips.

    Shenoy goes on to say:

    Ultimately, these updates will be made available in most cases through OEM firmware updates. I can’t emphasize enough how critical it is for everyone to always keep their systems up-to-date. Research tells us there is frequently a substantial lag between when people receive updates and when they actually implement them. In today’s environment, that must change.

    To which I say:

    Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice… well, you know.

    Folks, you’d have to be absolutely batbox crazy to install these new BIOS/UEFI patches as they’re being rolled out. Give them time to break other peoples’ machines — or to prove their worth in open combat. I’m sure the folks who made the new firmware are quite competent and tested the living daylights out of everything. But they did that the last time, too.

    Again, I repeat, for emphasis, there is exactly NO known Meltdown or Spectre-based malware out in the wild.

    Other , , ,
DON'T MISS OUT!
Subscribe to the Free Newsletter
We promise not to spam you. Unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address

View the Forum

  • Recent Replies
  • My Replies
  • My Active Topics
  • New Posts in the Last day
  • Private Messages
  • Knowledge Base
  • How to use the Forums
  • All Forums

    • Recent Topics

    My Profile

    April 2025
    S M T W T F S
     12345
    6789101112
    13141516171819
    20212223242526
    27282930  

    Remembering Woody

     

    Want to Advertise in the free newsletter? How about a gift subscription in honor of a birthday? Send an email to sb@askwoody.com to ask how.

    Mastodon profile for DefConPatch
    Mastodon profile for AskWoody

     

    Home • About • FAQ • Posts & Privacy • Forums • My Account
    Register • Free Newsletter • Plus Membership • Gift Certificates • MS-DEFCON Alerts

    Copyright ©2004-2025 by AskWoody Tech LLC. All Rights Reserved.