Neowin News Feed for: Spectre

Microsoft shares official Windows Registry tweak as the Spectre still haunts Intel in 2024

Sayan Sen — Sat, 13 Apr 2024 18:34:02 +0000

Remember the Spectre CPU vulnerability that reared its head for the first time in 2017? Variant 2 of Spectre is back, and as such, Microsoft has published guidance about the mitigation. Read more...

Testing shows AMD Zen 4 handling Spectre, Retbleed mitigations like a real champ

Sayan Sen — Sat, 01 Oct 2022 17:30:01 +0000

AMD's Zen 4 has been tested with the various Spectre variant mitigations and the performance is surprisingly good. In fact, overall, the Ryzen 7950X has managed to beat the unpatched system. Read more...

With its newfound retpoline Spectre patch, AMD CPUs are nowhere nearly as sloppy as Intel's

Sayan Sen — Sat, 12 Mar 2022 06:34:01 +0000

Testing the new retpoline mitigation on AMD for Spectre v2 shows that the performance loss with the new patch is nowhere nearly as big as the performance impact incurred by Intel processors. Read more...

AMD issues fix for Spectre v2 which confirms nearly every desktop CPU is still vulnerable

Alap Naik Desai — Sat, 12 Mar 2022 06:18:01 +0000

Intel and ARM are vulnerable to the Spectre-BHB flaw, but AMD is apparently troubled by Spectre v2, which it should have fixed back in 2018. AMD has now issued a new fix for the CVE-2017-5715 bug. Read more...

Even modern Intel CPUs are losing up to 36% performance with the new Spectre BHI patch

Sayan Sen — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 15:16:01 +0000

A new CPU exploit based on the infamous Spectre v2 has been discovered. However, when the security patch is applied it can affect performance by up to 36%, that's according to a recent study. Read more...

Mozilla launches Firefox 95 with RLBox and Site Isolation for added security

Paul Hill — Tue, 07 Dec 2021 14:56:02 +0000

Firefox 95 is out with improved security and performance. On the security-front, Firefox 95 is hardened with RLBox to protect against vulnerabilities and Site Isolation is on for everyone too. Read more...

Say goodbye to DX12 on 4th Gen Haswell CPUs as Intel defused it to fight off security bug

Sayan Sen — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 15:20:02 +0000

Intel disabled DirectX 12 on its 4th Gen Core lineup dubbed Haswell via a graphics driver update. The company stated that this was done to mitigate a security bug that it found on these CPUs. Read more...

Surface Go gets security fixes for Spectre-like vulnerability

Rich Woods — Wed, 24 Jul 2019 16:06:01 +0000

Microsoft's Surface Go tablet is getting some firmware updates today, and the only improvement listed is a fix for a security vulnerability, which is similar to the older Spectre issue. Read more...

Next Windows 10 feature update to make your PC faster following Spectre slowdowns

Muhammad Jarir Kanji — Fri, 19 Oct 2018 09:24:01 +0000

Following the discovery of the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities in Intel processors, the resulting fixes for the issue slowed down many PCs. The next feature update to Windows 10 may change that. Read more...

Microsoft revises Intel microcode updates for Windows 10 as mitigation against Spectre

Hamza Jawad — Sat, 15 Sep 2018 08:38:01 +0000

Microsoft has re-released the Intel microcode updates for different versions of Windows 10. The revised version adds support for more processors and is available to download via Windows Update. Read more...

Surface Book receives a long list of firmware and driver updates

Abhay V — Sat, 25 Aug 2018 19:10:01 +0000

Following suit with other Surface devices, the Surface Book is now receiving a long list of firmware and driver updates. The updates also include fixes for Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities. Read more...

Microsoft releases Intel's microcode updates for Windows 10 to combat Spectre

Jay Bonggolto — Wed, 22 Aug 2018 13:56:01 +0000

Microsoft has rolled out five Intel microcode updates for Windows 10 in an effort to address several vulnerabilities in Intel processors. The updates are meant to help combat various Spectre variants. Read more...

New NetSpectre attack can steal data from your CPU over the network

Ujjwal Kumar — Fri, 27 Jul 2018 15:56:01 +0000

A new Spectre attack has been discovered by four scientists from Graz University of Technology. This new attack can steal data from a target machine over a network which doesn't need local execution. Read more...

Intel's upcoming processors may not fix the latest Spectre variant

João Carrasqueira — Fri, 25 May 2018 18:36:02 +0000

The hard times for Intel may not be over yet, as sources say that the promised silicon-level fix for the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities may not protect from the variant discovered this week. Read more...

Spectre Variant 4 disclosed, mitigations to result in another performance hit

Usama Jawad — Tue, 22 May 2018 04:52:01 +0000

New variants of Spectre have been discovered by Microsoft and Google, which allow attackers to read privileged data. While mitigations will be available soon, they will result in a performance hit. Read more...

Microsoft Weekly: Gaming level, update revel, Surface bevel

Florin Bodnarescu — Sat, 19 May 2018 21:04:01 +0000

A lot has happened in these short seven days over at Microsoft. Most of the news revolved around gaming and the unveiling of the Adaptive Controller, but there was also more. Be sure to catch up. Read more...

Spectre variant 2 mitigation now available for the Windows 10 April 2018 Update

Florin Bodnarescu — Wed, 16 May 2018 14:00:01 +0000

An update for the latest version of Windows 10 now mitigates Spectre variant 2 on systems running the April 2018 Update with Coffee Lake, Kaby Lake, Skylake, Haswell, and more processors. Read more...

More flaws discovered in Intel chips - some serious, expect patches soon

Saumitra Bhagwat — Sat, 05 May 2018 07:28:01 +0000

Intel simply can't seem to catch a break with CPU design flaws. After Spectre and Meltdown, there are now eight new vulnerabilities this time around. But don't worry, a fix is already in the works. Read more...

Intel says it won't patch Spectre variant 2 for certain processors

Vishal Laul — Wed, 04 Apr 2018 16:48:01 +0000

In an update, Intel has revealed that it won't be developing patches for the second variant of Spectre for some of its older chips due to, but not limited to, them being impractical to develop. Read more...

Intel to fix Meltdown and Spectre in new chips; releasing code for older processors

Rich Woods — Thu, 15 Mar 2018 19:02:01 +0000

Intel announced today that future chips from the company will have Meltdown and Spectre fixes built into them, and that it's releasing new code for chips that were released in the last five years. Read more...

Microsoft adds updates for more Intel chips to Windows Update

Rich Woods — Tue, 13 Mar 2018 19:06:01 +0000

Earlier this month, Microsoft began offering Intel firmware updates via Windows Update for Skylake processors. Today, the company expanded its offerings to Kaby Lake and Coffee Lake. Read more...

Spectre has another evil sibling that compromises the safe zone created by Intel SGX

Jeff Mitchell — Sat, 03 Mar 2018 16:48:01 +0000

In 2018, twin vulnerabilities, dubbed Spectre and Meltdown were revealed. Ohio State University research revealed a new variant of Spectre which attacks the Intel Software Guard Extensions. Read more...

Microsoft releases Intel's Spectre and Meltdown microcode via Update Catalog

Rich Woods — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 18:00:01 +0000

Microsoft, with a blog post today, announced that it will begin providing Intel's new Spectre and Meltdown mitigations through the Microsoft Update Catalog, and will continue to push further updates. Read more...

AMD now facing class action suits over Spectre vulnerability of CPUs

John Keefer — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 22:48:01 +0000

Intel has been taking the brunt of the consumer backlash over the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities found in its CPUs, but AMD is also starting to take some heat in the form of legal action. Read more...

Intel updates 6th-, 7th-, and 8th-gen chips with Meltdown and Spectre fixes

Rich Woods — Wed, 21 Feb 2018 19:46:01 +0000

Intel today announced that it is releasing new updates for its sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-generation chips with additional mitigations for the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities. Read more...

Surface Pro 3 gets an update to mitigate Meltdown and Spectre

Rich Woods — Wed, 21 Feb 2018 16:56:14 +0000

Today, Microsoft released the first firmware update for the Surface Pro 3 since October 2017, offering up mitigations for the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities that were discovered last month. Read more...

Windows Analytics will now see if you're protected against Meltdown and Spectre

Rich Woods — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 17:32:01 +0000

Today, Microsoft announced that its Windows Analytics tool will help to assess if your computer is protected from the recently discovered Meltdown and Spectre security vulnerabilities. Read more...

Intel has released a stable Spectre patch for Skylake

Faheemmuddeen Patel — Thu, 08 Feb 2018 18:16:01 +0000

Having initially rolled out a buggy Spectre patch, Intel has now released an updated patch for Skylake CPUs. The updates will be made available through OEM updates so make sure to update soon. Read more...

Intel warned select customers of processor vulnerabilities before the U.S. Government

Abhay V — Mon, 29 Jan 2018 12:08:02 +0000

A recent report by The Wall Street Journal states that according to sources, Intel did not warn the U.S. Government of the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities, but did inform Chinese tech giants. Read more...

Microsoft issues emergency weekend update to remove buggy Intel patch [Update]

Muhammad Jarir Kanji — Mon, 29 Jan 2018 07:30:01 +0000

Microsoft this weekend issued an emergency update to abide by Intel's advisory requesting users to not not install a buggy Spectre mitigation that was causing systems to crash unexpectedly. Read more...

Intel: Chips coming later this year to be free of Spectre and Meltdown flaws

John Keefer — Fri, 26 Jan 2018 00:26:02 +0000

In its quarterly earnings call for investors, the company vowed that it was working to fix the flaws in its chips, and vowed that its processors due out later this year will be vulnerability-free. Read more...

Congress wants to know why the disclosure of Meltdown and Spectre was bungled

Usama Jawad — Thu, 25 Jan 2018 14:56:01 +0000

In a series of open letters, the United States Congress has questioned the bungling of the embargo for Meltdown and Spectre by various tech firms, including Microsoft, Intel, Apple, and Google. Read more...

Tails 3.5 released with Spectre-proof Linux kernel

Paul Hill — Wed, 24 Jan 2018 17:54:01 +0000

The Linux distribution, Tails, which focuses on privacy, has been bumped to version 3.5. The update brings Tor Browser 7.5 and a new Linux kernel which mitigates more fully against Spectre. Read more...

Apple releases Meltdown and Spectre fixes for older versions of macOS

Rich Woods — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 19:12:02 +0000

Apple released a round of security updates today, including the Meltdown and Spectre fixes for Macs running older operating systems, including macOS 10.12 Sierra and OS X 10.11 El Capitan. Read more...

Linus Torvalds calls Intel's Meltdown and Spectre patches 'garbage'

Muhammad Jarir Kanji — Mon, 22 Jan 2018 21:16:01 +0000

The creator of the open-source Linux operating system did not mince words when passing judgement on the Meltdown and Spectre patches being rolled out by Intel, calling them garbage. Read more...

Intel: Stop deploying our buggy Spectre CPU patch; new fixes coming

John Keefer — Mon, 22 Jan 2018 19:12:01 +0000

Faced with growing criticism over the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities found in its chip designs, Intel has been trying to respond quickly with fixes and updates. But they may have been too quick. Read more...

Ashampoo Spectre Meltdown CPU Checker 1.1.1.1

Razvan Serea — Fri, 19 Jan 2018 15:16:01 +0000

Find out whether your computer is vulnerable to Spectre and Meltdown with just one click! Read more...

Intel: Meltdown/Spectre patches also cause reboots on newer processors

Muhammad Jarir Kanji — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 10:54:02 +0000

In a blog post, the company's Executive Vice President Navin Shenoy admitted that further testing revealed a bug causing patched systems to reboot more frequently, also affects newer processors. Read more...

Apple sued for not informing users of Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities

Muhammad Jarir Kanji — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 19:24:01 +0000

A new lawsuit filed in the United States claims malfeasance on the smartphone maker's part by not informing its users of the existence of these processor vulnerabilities at an earlier date. Read more...

Retpoline patch coming to Linux 4.9 and Linux 4.14

Paul Hill — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 01:03:42 +0000

Several versions of the Linux kernel have been patched with Retpoline which was made by a Google employee to mitigate against Spectre while keeping performance levels the same as they were before. Read more...