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The Spectre & Meltdown Vulnerability Checker for Linux Is Now in Debian's Repos

Debian users can install the script with a single command

Jan 30, 2018 17:41 GMT  ·  By
Spectre & Meltdown checker for Linux
   Spectre & Meltdown checker for Linux

If you want to check to see if your Debian GNU/Linux computer is patched against the Meltdown and Spectre security vulnerabilities, it's now easier than ever to install the original spectre-meltdown-checker script.

Yes, you're reading it right, you can now install the very useful Spectre and Meltdown vulnerability/mitigation checker for Linux-based operating systems created by developer Stéphane Lesimple from the stable software repositories of the Debian GNU/Linux 9 "Stretch" operating system.

Earlier this month, we published a tutorial to teach you guys how to check if your Linux PC is protected or not against the Meltdown and Spectre security vulnerabilities that were unearthed recently and were discovered to put billions of devices powered by modern processors from Intel and AMD at risks of attacks.

Here's how to install the Spectre & Meltdown checker on Debian

The Spectre and Meltdown vulnerability/mitigation checker for Linux is a simple shell script that analyzes your PC and the operating system's kernel to tell you if it's vulnerable to either of the three speculative execution exploits made public early this month. To install it on your Debian PC, simply run the following command.

sudo apt-get install spectre-meltdown-checker After installation, you can use the script by running the "spectre-meltdown-checker" command (without quotes) in the terminal emulator. You should see an output similar to the one below after executing the script, and you'll immediately see if your Debian PC is vulnerable or not to the Meltdown and Spectre exploits.

If your Debian computer is vulnerable to one or more of the three speculative execution exploits, make sure you install the latest available kernel packages for your Debian GNU/Linux operating system, as well as the latest software versions from the official repositories. And remember always to keep your PC up-to-date!