Microsoft releases specter patches for haswell, broadwell and skylake
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Microsoft continues to work to improve the security of users of its Windows operating system, therefore, those of Redmond continue working day by day to mitigate the serious effects of the Specter vulnerability, which is present in the processors of Intel and AMD.
Microsoft continues to release patches for Specter on Skylake, Broadwell and Haswell systems
The best way to mitigate the vulnerabilities in the processors is to use BIOS updates at the level of the motherboard, since this way you can patch the firmware independently of the operating system and it will work when the user reinstalls an operating system or changes to a Linux distribution. Unfortunately, these types of updates are the most expensive to implement, since they require the collaboration of many parties.
We recommend reading our post on Intel will leave more than 200 processors without patches for Meltdown and Specter
Given the slow pace of mitigation at the BIOS level for the motherboard, Microsoft decided to take the lead and make security updates available to Windows users through Windows Update, a very fast distribution channel. The latest of these updates is KB4091666, which is compatible with Skylake, Broadwell and Haswell series processors.
Specter mitigation updates have already been released for Coffee Lake and Kaby Lake platforms via Windows. Future Intel CPUs are expected to include mitigations in silicon, while more Windows updates will come for the Ivy Bridge and Sandy Bridge processors. Although changes at the BIOS level are preferable, there is no way to avoid the fact that many of these older systems are out of warranty, and that motherboard manufacturers and OEMs have limited staff dedicated to the task, making them update is slow.
Motherboard manufacturers stopped making BIOS updates for Sandy Bridge-era systems, making microcode injection at the operating system level the only viable option for protecting users of these outdated platforms.
Overclock3d fontMicrosoft talks about loss of performance for patches for meltdown and specter
Microsoft claims that the mitigating patches for the Meltdown and Specter vulnerabilities will be especially noticeable on Haswell and earlier systems.
Haswell and broadwell undergo reboots from meltdown and specter patches
Processor-based computers on the Haswell and Broadwell architectures are experiencing restart problems after applying the patch fixes.
Microsoft will host the specter and meltdown patches on its own website
If you are concerned about receiving the Specter and Meltdown patches, Microsoft has started supplying them on its own via a file on their website.
