Kernel memory leaking' Intel processor design flaw forces Linux, Windows redesign

I have F10e official but unreleased for public BIOS from Gigabyte because I ask them to make BIOS with option to toggle HPET on and off. I'm added microcode 23 for my CPU in BIOS with UBU tool.

 

I notice a 10 time slow down in a specific operation, when exporting to web from Lightroom.
PC build i7 5930K, Asus x99 Deluxe MB, 64Gb RAM, Quadro P2000, M-2 Samsung 960 and 950Pro.
I regularly export to a website, before last MS update export took 5 to 6 minutes, since a few days ago it takes 60m.
Other computer operations apparently OK

 

I did some tests using realbench and found that the patch made my AMD systems slightly faster.

The only intel systems I have are E5300 (OC@3.1G) desktop and P9600 & T6600 laptops to test with and from tests they are taking massive performance hits with kb4056892 installed on the "Image Editing" "Encoding" & "Heavy Multitasking" tests, OpenCL seems to be unaffected.

There has been talk on the ROG forums about possible slow downs for image & video editing / rendering.

My AMD Phenom II x4 840 & FX8350 systems are actually slightly faster post kb4056892.
P9600 15% slower "Image Editing" & 3% slower "Encoding"compared to Pre kb4056892
E5300 (OC@3.1G) 18% slower "Image Editing", 32% slower "Encoding" & "Heavy Multitasking" 31% slower compared to Pre kb4056892

It's kind of interesting to see that I got around 30% less performance in some tests so that 30% figure touted might have been based in reality.

Also I have noticed my P9600 laptop seems to be unstable since the patch as it has shutdown / rebooted and had explorer crashes, remove the patch and it's stable again.

There are some registry settings that can disable the patch apparently I have not retested as yet with it disabled by registry.

 

Google team will save us all? No bios updates needed for Branch Target Injection? No slowdowns? https://support.google.com/faqs/answer/7625886

 

So how do we get this fix?

 

So is anyone else considering just not installing the BIOS update for this? I’ve had it sitting there on my desktop and am highly reluctant to actually go through with it.

 

Well with my gaming Laptop I would love to update the BIOS but I am having issues where it would refuse to go through the proper procedure to do it. On my Desktop I may update it if Asus releases an update for my motherboard. If they don't then I am not going to worry about it. Well since on my laptop that I cannot do it then I am not going to worry about it.

 

There is bios update for mine, but not bothering with it. Want to see reports of systems compromised by actual malware that exploited these vulnerabilities, not just that these vulnerabilities merely exist.

 

Update software EG: Chrome and enable "Site Isolation protection" ?

Ito enable enter this in Chrome url box
chrome://flags/#enable-site-per-process
Then enable "Strict site isolation"

HDD read speeds after the intel microcode update are not looking great on I9-7900X.
https://1drv.ms/i/s!AtdIXtP0ECLm0UaF1RQiOWqZJLgC
I think you can figure out what is pre and post microcode.

A i7 laptop user is saying that using it feels like a celeron and their SSD feels like it's operating like a hdd from the P3 era

 

Strict site isolation has description: Highly experimental security mode that ensures each renderer process contains pages from at most one site. In this mode, out-of-process iframes will be used whenever an iframe is cross-site.
This description has nothing to do with the fix described in Google`s article. Article is about CPU instructions and their combinations, is about changing compilers to generate such combinations of CPU instructions.

So answer for wrathloki`s question is - we will get this fix when (1) companies will use changed compilers and (2) we will use exe-files built by such compilers.

 

I really don't know... I found information here >
https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/11/g...gation-results-in-no-performance-degradation/
https://www.theinquirer.net/inquire...sults-in-no-degradation-to-system-performance

Edit: @mbk1969 , thanks for answering.

 

Did you download and use the detection tool first, I am on the Haswell i7 core 4770, i ran that intel detection tool and it stated that my system was not vulnerable, even though i have not modded my bios, and my mobo being a Asus Z87 won't be offered a bios update according to Asus list with the last bios for it was way back in 2015, and i have not done any firmware updates for anything.

 

Its about Google Retpoline, a software patch made it by Google (ofc),which is better than Wintel Cartel patches.Available for Servers.
Yeah,good guy Google.

(The name “retpoline” is a portmanteau of “return” and “trampoline.” It is a trampoline construct constructed using return operations which also figuratively ensures
that any associated speculative execution will “bounce” endlessly. )

https://support.google.com/faqs/answer/7625886

https://security.googleblog.com/2018/01/more-details-about-mitigations-for-cpu_4.html

Product Status
Google’s Mitigations Against CPU Speculative Execution Attack Methods
https://support.google.com/faqs/answer/7622138

Off-topic for android users:
Android Security Bulletin—January 2018
https://source.android.com/security/bulletin/2018-01-01

 

I've just decided to wait a bit longer, at least for Haswell microcode newer than 23. Way too many complains all over the web coming from Haswell users after updating from 22 to 23 microcode: WHEA errors, random stabillity issues, rebots...

 

I'm with you I want to see what kind of damage these vulnerabilities can do and I am willing to bet that these Lawsuits that are happening probably want that kind of evidence as well.

 

Yeah, it is all just a complete mess right now, if i had failed this test i would also just wait to see what happens because as of now it seems to be just a cluster of issues that need to be fixed yet not one concise answer as to what will fix what and how, it can certainly overwhelm with so many issues all seeming to appear at once for what we all thought were our safe protected systems from reliable hardware brand names.

 

Microcode revision guidance from Intel
https://newsroom.intel.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2018/01/microcode-update-guidance.pdf

 

Microsoft update for microcodes (finally) for Skylake H/S and Skylake U/Y & Skylake U23e
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4090007/intel-microcode-updates


New version of guidance from Intel
https://newsroom.intel.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2018/03/microcode-update-guidance.pdf