[sf-lug] Intel's Meltdown and Spectre flaws

[acohen36]

Much recent clamor over the last few days about Intel Inc's "Meltdown" and 
"Spectre" flaws, that have apparently been in nearly all Intel CPU's since 
even before the start of the Millenium(?)

E.g., as reported in at least
- ' "Meltdown" and "Spectre": Every modern processor has unfixable 
security flaws'[1]
- 'What's behind the Intel design flaw forcing numerous patches?'[2]
- 'Spectre and Meltdown: Details you need on those big chip flaws'[3]
- 'Meltdown and Spectre -- Bugs in modern computers leak passwords and 
sensitive data.'[4]

Anyone have further thoughts on Meltdown and Spectre?
Helpful insights on this from Rick M, Akkana P, and others?

IIRC, the most recent SF-LUG post on Intel's "problems" was Rick M's post 
on 'Intell reveal security problems with the IME, finally' from ~1.5 
months ago, see [5].

-A


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References
============
[1]https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/01/meltdown-and-spectre-every-modern-processor-has-unfixable-security-flaws/
[2]https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/01/whats-behind-the-intel-design-flaw-forcing-numerous-patches/
[3]https://www.cnet.com/news/spectre-meltdown-intel-arm-amd-processor-cpu-chip-flaw-vulnerability-faq/
[4]https://meltdownattack.com/
[5]http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2017q4/012991.html



acohen36 at sdf.org
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