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AMD Is Releasing Spectre Firmware Updates To Fix CPU Vulnerabilities (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: AMD's initial response to the Meltdown and Spectre CPU flaws made it clear "there is a near zero risk to AMD processors." That zero risk doesn't mean zero impact, as we're starting to discover today. "We have defined additional steps through a combination of processor microcode updates and OS patches that we will make available to AMD customers and partners to further mitigate the threat," says Mark Papermaster, AMD's chief technology officer. AMD is making firmware updates available for Ryzen and EPYC owners this week, and the company is planning to update older processors "over the coming weeks." Like Intel, these firmware updates will be provided to PC makers, and it will be up to suppliers to ensure customers receive these. AMD isn't saying whether there will be any performance impacts from applying these firmware updates, nor whether servers using EPYC processors will be greatly impacted or not. AMD is also revealing that its Radeon GPU architecture isn't impacted by Meltdown or Spectre, simply because those GPUs "do not use speculative execution and thus are not susceptible to these threats." AMD says it plans to issue further statements as it continues to develop security updates for its processors.
You *deliberately* ignored that, when saying "zero risk doesn't mean zero impact", to artificially make a point as sleazy as a (certain) corporate spokesperson's.
The lottery also has near zero chance of winning. But it certainly wasn't zero, as you'd imply, for those who did.
"... whether there will be any performance impacts from applying these firmware updates, nor whether servers using EPYC processors will be greatly impacted or not."
You just *had* to mention EPYC *a second time*, to really truly highlight your suggesive narrative.
Like "ACs didn't say there weren't shills, nor did TFS's AC say he wasn't a complete shill.". --.--
You are confusing Meltdown and Spectre. Meltdown: only Intel. Spectre: almost everything.
Not sure why MS hasn't pushed out an Intel microcode update on Windows yet, motherboards are slow to get BIOS updates so far
You are confusing Meltdown and Spectre. Meltdown: only Intel. Spectre: almost everything.
And spectre has two variants, and the second variant doesn't affect AMD Zen processors, but does affect older AMD processors.
Nothing is more beta than trolling on /.
AMD never said there was a near zero risk for Spectre. AMD is not affected by Meltdown. AMD and Intel affected by Spectre. Period. Stop trying to push Intels problems on AMD.
And Alex Jones was right again, sadly.
Are you kidding? Trolling /. is for gammas.
The second time in ten year, you mean? Yeah. Impressive.
Not just Intel. Meltdown also affects ARM (Cortex-A75).
Well, then I have a surprise for you.
And it is right in my .. ASS.
A dick? Since when are you into sharing, AC?
Should we be expecting a BIOS update for Intel machines? Or is this completely taken care of by the patches that MS and others have pushed out?
The Verge is obvioulsy a non-credible source. Or does that just apply to stories editors don't want to publish (*ahem* twitter *ahem) ?
What a terrible article. Here Slashdot editors, a better one from a no-name site that actually gets the facts right :
https://www.lowyat.net/2018/152301/amd-begin-distributing-firmware-updates-patch-spectre-vulnerability/
Or just use the damn primary source :
http://www.amd.com/en/corporate/speculative-execution
"Not to mention all the idiots who use words like boxen."
Anonymous Coward on Monday August 04, @06:49PM
Your PC maker or motherboard maker should have a patch for firmware / microcode. To completely mitigate the vulnerability on Intel based computers - you will have to patch both the OS and the firmware. I believe the firmware patch is required as part of Spectre (probably 2nd variant). Without both, your computer will be still vulnerable. Unfortunately I believe there is a chance that the patch could fail silently - but there is a powerscript that will tell you the status of the vulnerability patches.
The firmware update comes from your PC manufacturer or motherboard manufacturer.
Also: Spectre: Pretty old news, just somebody made it more practical now.
The only reason Spectre is pushed in the news is that Intel is desperately trying to obscure the magnitude of their screw-up with Meltdown.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
I've read so many articles on Meltdown/Spectre and many of them at least get some of it wrong. Even Microsoft and Intel can't agree on this significance of performance slowdowns. I personally think AMD tried to capitalize on this and downplayed their chips exposure to this. That's marketing, and they also carefully worded their response so as to minimize their exposure. Actually, the better question that needs answering, is where to we go from here with CPU's? These two exploits might be fixable, but they also poise a roadblock to speed even in new CPU's down the road. The users I think most affected by this is users with older hardware and weaker Atom and Celeron CPU's. These users have little to play with in lost performance so these slowdowns are worse even if they only create a small percent reduction.
I don't like the man either, but that is really wishful thinking.
Not just Intel. Meltdown also affects ARM (Cortex-A75)
Just one chip from ARM (all other ARM processors are not affected by Meltdown), allowing Intel to cry "it's not just all our processors!". So yeah, it's almost exclusively every single Intel chip in the last 20 years (since the Pentium Pro) that is fundamentally shafted. It's sure not like Intel to have a history of significant hardware flaws (F00F, FDIV), right?
You have to be an autist in order to create beautiful aut.
To be fair, Intel made great efforts to spread as much confusion about these two as possible.
This BS looks to have come straight from the Intel PR department.
Complete FUD, mixing the two unrelated bugs, and utterly misleading the reader into thinking that AMD's completely accurate response to the major Intel bug was somehow wrong.
As a tech site Slashdot should be ashamed.
says Mark Papermaster, AMD's chief technology officer.
So that's why we're as far away as ever from POOF, the Paperless Office Of the Future.
This is an update to microcode which fundamentally modifies the behavior of the instructions within a processor. You could argue that it's just a specific type of firmware but if that's the case then call it by title it's been given! It's not like this is a website for non-technical people.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
>being this much of a fanboi
Except nobody has been saying this. From day one we've listed ARM cores manufactured by a dozen vendors that also have the same problem. Engage your brain.
A rich white guy with powerful friends going to prison? Call me a skeptic.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Not just Intel, AMD, and ARM. Meltdown and Spectre also affect Lay's potato chips, and that's where I draw the line! This means war!
wishful thinking
That's an odd way to spell delusional.
As a (sad) owner of some 7 Intel-based PCs (and 3 AMD-based ones), I sure would like to know whether some of them have escaped that set of curses.
Ideally, a long list with a column per vulnerability would be best.
Is there such beast? Or should we just sigh and consider newer than 1995 == broken?
Sorry, but the continued advise is that no AMD chip is affected by Meltdown at all. It's an Intel-only fuckup that no amount of shilling can hide.
Lolll
Also: Spectre: Pretty old news, just somebody made it more practical now.
The only reason Spectre is pushed in the news is that Intel is desperately trying to obscure the magnitude of their screw-up with Meltdown.
The smart move is to take a few days and let the facts come out. The last I heard AMD was also affected by 2 variants of Spectre. The most problematic is the one that requires a firmware update. As you can see both AMD and Intel need firmware updates. As for new and upcoming CPU and chipsets. Both AMD and Intel don't mention Spectre.. I am waiting to see who comes out with the better solution for handling Spectre with the least performance hit and over all system usability. I am going to need a new system and right now I don't if it will be Intel or AMD. I am going to research the issue.