Linux 3.16.59 Being Prepared With L1TF Patches, Other x86 Speculation Mitigation Work

While the maintained Linux 4.x kernel branches have all seen a lot of work on L1TF/Foreshadow and other x86/x86_64 speculation execution mitigation work, the Linux 3.16.59 kernel is bringing a load of work for those still riding this old kernel base.

Linux 3.16 long-term stable maintainer Ben Hutchings issued the set of 131 patches set to make up this 3.16.59 point release. A majority of these Linux 3.16.59 patches are pertaining to L1TF/Foreshadow and the other Spectre vulnerabilities not already addressed by earlier 3.16 patches.

A complete list of the queued patches at this point can be found via the 3.16.59-rc1 announcement.

The Linux 3.16 kernel is the oldest long-term stable branch still being maintained and is expected to keep up with fixes at least through April 2020.