Report: All Intel Processors Made in the Last Decade Might Have a Massive Security Flaw
There’s small screwups and big screwups. Here is tremendously huge screwup: Virtually all Intel processors produced in the last decade have a major security hole that could allow “normal user programs—from database applications to JavaScript in web browsers—to discern to some extent the layout or contents of protected kernel memory areas,” the Register reported on Tuesday.
The error is baked into the Intel x86-64 hardware, it requires an OS-level overwrite patch — on every major operating system, including Windows, Linux, and macOS.
I smell a class action coming…
Early tests are showing that the fix can slow Linux and Windows machines by as much as 60%. Not to mention, there is no chip design in existence from Intel that does not have the bug, so it could be five years or more before it is fixed at the hardware level.
Luckily AMD does have chips in production without this bug +Lee Keels. That could be interesting for motherboards sold from now on. I wonder if we will be seeing a decline in Intel's market share, but I do not expect anything but a small dimple at most.
Review sites that have processor performance comparisons need to update their test results pronto to adapt for the post-patch era.
+m fierst Can't really update results until we have final patches.