Meltdown & Spectre Information and Discussion

[Ottawagrant]

To Searchernow: I have 2 Acer netbooks. Both have the Intel Atom processor, version N455, made in 02/2011. According to an article I read the Intel Atom (made before 2013) is one of only 2 processors unaffected. That's what I read. (humor intentional). I will install LL 3.6 32-bit on it today & run Jerry's test. I'll post the results here as well as the netbook's spec's. Both netbooks have Windows 7 starter on them now, so no loss there.

[Searchernow]

Thanks Trinidad - I'll update my Win7 laptop AVG free then try the Win check you posted.

Thanks too Ottawa - I since looked at my netbook (Samsung) - it has Atom N450, pretty sure it's pre-2013, and presumably pre - N455.
It's spec is 1.67Ghz and 2gb ram - so comfortably within LL recomended.

[Searchernow]

Sorry, I meant to add:

tweaktown's list, reportedly an official Intel list, is shown below.
My netbook (32 bit, Win7 Home Prem) doesn't give "series" - just Atom N450, but looking at the Atom wikipedia entry, my date of purchase Feb. 2011, logo sticker etc. then the series is N (obvious now) so appears not to be on the vulnerable list, as you suggest!


from https://www.tweaktown.com/news/60411/her...index.html  "12 days ago"

"Intel has finally released a full list of all of their processors that are open to the Spectre and Meltdown security flaws, with virtually all Intel CPUs at risk.

heres-list-intel-cpus-affected-specture-meltdown_06

The chipmaker has worked closely with AMD, ARM Holdings, and multiple operating system makers in order to push an industry-wide approach to fixing this problem.
Intel will soon have an update for 90% of their processors, something that should drop in the next few days.

Intel® Core™ i3 processor (45nm and 32nm)
Intel® Core™ i5 processor (45nm and 32nm)
Intel® Core™ i7 processor (45nm and 32nm)
Intel® Core™ M processor family (45nm and 32nm) 2nd generation
Intel® Core™ processors 3rd generation
Intel® Core™ processors 4th generation
Intel® Core™ processors 5th generation
Intel® Core™ processors 6th generation
Intel® Core™ processors 7th generation
Intel® Core™ processors 8th generation
Intel® Core™ processors Intel® Core™ X-series Processor Family for Intel® X99 platforms
Intel® Core™ X-series Processor Family for Intel® X299 platforms
Intel® Xeon® processor 3400 series
Intel® Xeon® processor 3600 series
Intel® Xeon® processor 5500 series
Intel® Xeon® processor 5600 series
Intel® Xeon® processor 6500 series
Intel® Xeon® processor 7500 series
Intel® Xeon® Processor E3 Family
Intel® Xeon® Processor E3 v2 Family
Intel® Xeon® Processor E3 v3 Family
Intel® Xeon® Processor E3 v4 Family
Intel® Xeon® Processor E3 v5 Family
Intel® Xeon® Processor E3 v6 Family
Intel® Xeon® Processor E5 Family
Intel® Xeon® Processor E5 v2 Family
Intel® Xeon® Processor E5 v3 Family
Intel® Xeon® Processor E5 v4 Family
Intel® Xeon® Processor E7 Family
Intel® Xeon® Processor E7 v2 Family
Intel® Xeon® Processor E7 v3 Family
Intel® Xeon® Processor E7 v4 Family
Intel® Xeon® Processor Scalable Family
Intel® Xeon Phi™ Processor 3200, 5200, 7200 Series
Intel® Atom™ Processor C Series
Intel® Atom™ Processor E Series
Intel® Atom™ Processor A Series
Intel® Atom™ Processor x3 Series
Intel® Atom™ Processor Z Series
Intel® Celeron® Processor J Series
Intel® Celeron® Processor N Series
Intel® Pentium® Processor J Series
Intel® Pentium® Processor N Series

Read more: https://www.tweaktown.com/news/60411/her...index.html "

[bfb]

I reverted to the 4.4.0 available in the Lite Kernels list in Lite Tweaks, as 4.10 is vulnerable, but still get this.
How can I get to the 111 version of Lite 4.4.0 ?

[img height=460 width=800]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh80/bfb_album/Screenshot_2018-01-18_17-02-28_zpszgfjbud4.png[/img]

[trinidad]

Remove kernel 4.10 and then update kernel 4.4. You must be running on 4.4 to delete 4.10. If you are running 4.4 now try updating. I think LL will only update the running kernel, though not sure. In any case 4.4 in LL will update to -111.

TC

[Ottawagrant]

Acer Aspire One netbook D255E
Intel Atom n455 1.66GHz processor
Manufactured 02/2011
Linux Lite 3.6 32-bit
Fresh install on kernel 4.4.0-93 #116
Variant #1 - no
            #2 - yes
            #3 - yes


updated kernel to 4.4.0-111 #134

Variant #1 - no
            #2 - yes
            #3 - yes
A different article that I read seems to suggest that it is the Intel Atom 32-bit only that is OK. It's suggested that any chip that is x86_64 is vulnerable. I installed LL on the netbook with Windows 7 starter, so no loss there. But if anyone wants to try it on a netbook/laptop/desktop without installing LL, just boot into a live environment via USB, download Jerry's zip file, extract, & then double-click the 'sm-start'. No password required. It'll be an older kernel, but it'll give you an idea for your device.

[newtusmaximus]

https://mobile.twitter.com/verge/status/...96/video/1

[trinidad]

v1 Spectre is partially mitigated against timing attacks, by Firefox 57 and ESR

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/a...sa2018-01/

TC

[Middleman.]

hello im new to the party.
i have downloaded and installed the latest microcode from the lite repo.is this enough to mitigate.?
my browser is google chrome.

thank you.

[Mart]

Thanks Jerry for the Automated Spectre/Meltdown Checker.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/linux-lit...9431.shtml

Ran the script and my results were the same.

"Spectre Variant 1"  Status: Not Vulnerable

"Spectre Variant 2"  Status: Vulnerable

"Meltdown aka Variant 3"  Status: Not Vulnerable

(Results with latest Intel microcode update and updated Linux kernel 4.4.0-111)

In respect to "Spectre Variant 2"  the following article - Ubuntu Preparing Kernel Updates With IBRS/IBPB For Spectre Mitigation - may be reassuring.

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=n...re-Kernels