Re: Intel microcode fixes [OFF-TOPIC]

Alex Buell (alex.buell@tahallah.demon.co.uk)
Thu, 19 Nov 1998 23:31:08 -0500 (EST)


On Thu, 19 Nov 1998, John Fulmer wrote:

> EGADS! Is there NO security on the processor microcode? Could this be
> exploited to do evil narsty things?

Yeah. #1 Exploit: Resurrect the F00F bug. #2 Exploit: Infamous Pentium
floating point bug. The list is endless.

> In a serious note (microcode viruses aside), I don't think that I or many
> other people even knew that Intel's microcode was changeable. I wonder
> what the security implications could be?

Can of worms here, I'm afraid.

> Does Linux protect the cpu at all in this instance?

Don't think so.

Cheers,
Alex

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