14 DAY TRIAL // Intel has just released revised Spectre fixes for more processors, after the company previously published them for Skylake chipsets earlier this month.
The new updates are available for Skylake-X, Kaby Lake, and Coffee Lake CPUs, as well as for data center chips like Intel Xeon Scalable and Intel Xeon D. The company says that it’s now working with partners to include them in their firmware updates, so the next release for your device should include these fixes as well.
Intel claims that additional fixes for Skylake are also included, following the original patches that were launched in February.
“We have now released production microcode updates to our OEM customers and partners for Kaby Lake- and Coffee Lake-based platforms, plus additional Skylake-based platforms. The new microcode will be made available in most cases through OEM firmware updates. I continue to encourage people to always keep their systems up-to-date,” Intel says.
“We are mindful of the fact that, in some cases, there are multiple mitigation techniques available that may provide protection against these exploits. This includes ‘Retpoline,’ a Google-developed mitigation technique for Variant 2.”
The timeline
Intel previously released Meltdown and Spectre security updates in January, and device manufacturers included them in their firmware update released during the same month following the public disclosure of the two hardware flaws.
The company, however, discovered that Spectre Variant 2 patches were causing unexpected reboots on its processors and eventually decided to pull the updates completely until the cause of the problem was found and fixed. In early February, Intel finally shipped the updated patches for Spectre Variant 2, but only the Skylake line of chipsets was targeted.
Normally, it shouldn’t take too long before device manufacturers release new firmware updates that include today’s fixes, and you are recommended to download and install them as soon as possible in order to stay protected against possible exploits.