14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has re-released a series of Intel microcode updates, including KB4100347, which is specifically aimed at Windows 10 April 2018 Update (version 1803).
At this point, it’s not entirely clear what has changed in this new version of the updates, but the official KB pages indicate the last revision as being made on September 14.
In addition to the Windows 10 April 2018 Update Intel microcode update, Microsoft has also re-released updates for all the previous Windows 10 versions, as it follows: Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (version 1709) - KB4090007, Windows 10 Creators Update (1703) - KB4091663, Windows 10 Anniversary Update (1607) - KB4091664, original Windows 10 version (1507) - KB4091666.
All these updates include mitigations against the Spectre Variant 2 vulnerability discovered earlier this year. However, they were originally released as part of a previous Patch Tuesday, and some of them have even caused particular issues on Windows 10 devices.
System boot issues
KB4100347, for instance, was the culprit of system boot problems on Windows 10 April 2018 Update, rendering a number of systems useless. At that point, it was believed that Microsoft incorrectly shipped the Intel update to computers with AMD processors, eventually breaking down the boot.
The timing of these new updates is a little surprising given that Microsoft shipped security updates only a few days ago as part of the September 2018 Patch Tuesday.
The cumulative updates that were released this month for Windows 10 devices also included additional protection against the Spectre Variant 2 vulnerability for ARM64 devices, according to the official changelogs. Vulnerabilities in Windows and other Microsoft products were also fixed.
We have reached out to Microsoft to ask for more information as to why these updates have been re-released and what has changed in the new versions and we will add more details to this article should an answer be offered.