Re:Linus Torvalds: “Somebody is pushing complete garbage for...
by frevd on Monday January 22, 2018 @12:06PM
(#16205933)
It's not Intel's issue, it's a design flaw per se, affecting _all_ CPUs that use predictive branch execution that has effects on the processor cache, which are pretty much all processors produced in this millenium.
That said, there _might_ be a solution to this problem in a way that predictive branch execution does not need to be removed completely from future architecture, which would be a thing we don't really want to loose, even if it increases safety. During that time, it makes sense to disable it, but not by default. The only implication is that older systems must be patched, which is every admin's responsibility.
Re:Linus Torvalds: “Somebody is pushing complete garbage for...
by wtetzner on Monday January 22, 2018 @01:45PM
(#16206769)
> It's not Intel's issue, it's a design flaw per se, affecting _all_ CPUs that use predictive branch execution that has effects on the processor cache, which are pretty much all processors produced in this millenium.
Just because other CPUs have this flaw, doesn't mean this isn't Intel's issue. Regardless of the state of other CPU manufacturers, Intel is producing buggy CPUs.
- In newer CPU's. There should be mitigations against these attacks. That would probably seriously hurt intel by delaying their future processor launches
- In Older/existing CPU's through microcode updates. Bar literally making "fixed" versions of every Intel CPU in the last 10~ years. This is the only way to resolve the issue on existing hardware
Instead of doing that. Intel wants to avoid the much-reported "30% performance hit" by simply saying "Well if you want this FEATURE, you can enable it in your OS!"
Intel is trying to downplay a massive security vulnerability in their hardware as something that OS vendors can just let users opt in/out of