Newsletter Archives

• Microsoft re-releases Intel microcode patches for all versions of Win10

  Posted on September 14, 2018 at 07:16 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Last night, Microsoft released these new Intel microcode patches:

  KB 4100347 for Win10 1803
  KB 4090007 for Win10 1709
  KB 4091663 for Win10 1703
  KB 4091664 for Win10 1607
  KB 4091666 for Win10 1507

  And there’s an official Summary of Intel microcode updates. You can stop yawning now.

  The updates seem to be directed at Spectre 2. Remember, we’re looking at Spectre Vn where n = 1, 2, 3, 3a, 4, and the Spectre NG series where n = 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7 and 1.8. If I read the tea leaves correctly.

  Of course, Spectre (and Meltdown) don’t exist in the wild. Many people feel that the chances of them ever appearing are very slim because it’d take a whole lot of work to get them going and parse the incoming data.

  Those of you who run servers with multiple users and sensitive data might be concerned. The rest of us… Meh.

  

  UPDATE: Günter Born has a great exploration of the patches, WSUS, and a Microsoft bot on his Born City blog.

  Windows Patches/Security KB 4090007, KB 4091663, KB 4091664, KB 4091666, KB 4100347

• Microsoft offers more Spectre v2 microcode updates, KB 4090007, KB 4091663, KB 4091664

  Posted on April 26, 2018 at 09:42 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Yesterday, I posted a note about two new Spectre v2 patches, KB 4078407 and KB 4091666.

  The first is a Win10-only fix that has to be combined with a microcode change from your hardware manufacturer in order to accomplish anything. As @abbodi86 notes:

  KB4078407 is not a patch, it’s just an executable that enables the Spectre mitigation protection by changing two registry entries

  The second is a microcode-only, Intel-only, Win10 1507-only patch that changes the microcode for a large number of Intel processors.

  This morning, Günter Born notes on Borncity that there are now four of these microcode patches:

  • KB4090007 for Win10 1709/”Server 2016 version 1709″
  • KB4091663 for Win10 1703
  • KB4091664 for Win10 1607/Server 2016

  In addition to the one I described yesterday, KB4091666 for Win10 1507.

  None of them are available through Windows Update. You have to manually dig into the Update Catalog to get them.

  As noted (voluminously) there are no known exploits as yet for Meltdown, Spectre v1 or Spectre v2. You might want to tuck these away in case we ever see a reason to use them.

  Windows Patches/Security KB 4078407, KB 4090007, KB 4091663, KB 4091664, Meltdown, Spectre