Six New Stable Linux Kernel Updates For Intel DOWNFALL & AMD INCEPTION

[kylew77]

Does openBSD now have application updates or do we still have to wait 6 months until the next openBSD release for security updates of desktop versions?

Btw viruses on Linux desktop are nearly inexistent, so I doubt something can happen.

Yes OpenBSD does support updates for packages like chromium and Firefox esr

Yes viruses are nonexistent but exploits aren't!

[carewolf]

I meant the intel one, as stated in: https://www.phoronix.com/review/downfall
And then in regards to disabling the forthcoming Downfall mitigations:

"This is a terrible idea. Even if your workload does not use vector instructions, modern processors rely on vector registers to optimize common operations, such as copying memory and switching register content, which leaks data to untrusted code exploiting Gather."
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Javascript runs things, it uses system functions that in turn uses AVX like:

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Glibc-More-AVX-512-October-2022

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Glibc-More-EVEX512-Functions

And other things, it could be that the actual js engine has optimizations for this as well...

Yes, but nothing that can be exploited by this bug. Using AVX isn't enough, you need to issue specific instructions in a specific order, not just use it as intended.