Emergency Windows Meltdown patch may be incompatible with your PC

techrepublic ^ | January 4, 2018, 3:40 AM PST | By Nick Heath |

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Microsoft has warned some PC users they will not be able to apply an emergency Windows patch because their security software is incompatible.

The out-of-bounds update was issued by Microsoft yesterday to address the Meltdown and Spectre flaws in Intel chips.

These vulnerabilities affect most PCs and servers, and can be exploited to allow an attacker to read sensitive information, such as passwords, from protected memory. The Spectre flaw also affects AMD chips, but is considerably more difficult to exploit, as well as a small number of Arm-based processors.

However, not every Microsoft system will be able to apply the patch, as Microsoft has blocked its installation on PCs running incompatible anti-virus software.

Microsoft says it was necessary to delay the update on these systems to avoid Blue Screen of Death errors that would leave the device unable to boot.

[TheStickman]

My wife is the one with the problem. I’ll ping her to ya.

[publius911]

Emergency Windows Meltdown patch may be incompatible with your PC.

Typical Microshaft business practice.<>How can I know if my particular Win10 laptop and desktop are vulnerable or infected?

[stylin19a]

the word “impossible” turns people on in IT.

The only reason I have an AMD PC is because I then don’t have to use my space heater.

[Gennie]

AMD isn’t affected by Meltdown, but is by the Spectre bug.

[ConservativeMind]

No AMD processor has the Meltdown issue.

[ConservativeMind]

Correct.

[hsmomx3]

There was an update that installed today, Windows 10 1709 which required a restart.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

From what I can see, all of them are period.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Must have sent the wrong one

Intel, ARM and AMD all affected by 'Meltdown' and 'Spectre' security-bypassing CPU design flaws

[ConservativeMind]

You have the wrong title. At your link, it says:

“Intel, ARM and AMD all affected by security-bypassing, kernel-bothering CPU bugs”

The article never states or implies Meltdown applies to AMD, no matter how many times you keep saying otherwise.

[MeganC]

I suspect that these ‘flaws’ are just more backdoors that the NSA forced companies like AMD and Intel to build into our devices.

[dfwgator]

And they want driverless cars that rely on these chips?

[Keen-Minded]

What is the Microsoft patch number?

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

All I know is what I read in the Papers.

It will be interesting to find out how long ago AMD knew about this and if they purposely leveraged this when putting out their new chips. If they knew this was pending it will be a pretty savvy business move.

[Sergio]

bkmk

[ConservativeMind]

Oddly, I don’t believe AMD knew anything about the specific implementation of speculative processing Intel used—it would have been a trade secret for Intel, as it is responsible for a speed boost AMD couldn’t copy. However, AMD does use something it made from scratch that kept track of permissions for code being speculatively run. If code without permission tried to use results it wasn’t authorized to use, it would error out. Intel let that information come right back to the unprivileged process. It only takes a small amount of logic and an extra couple registers and line traces to completely stop any issue. Intel didn’t bother to rethink what it made 10 - 20 years ago because it “worked.”

[usconservative]

AMD isn’t affected by Meltdown, but is by the Spectre bug.

Correct, and AMD is only affected by ONE of the Spectre bug vulnerabilities and it's very difficult to execute/make happen. Intel is vulnerable to all three.

Far and away, Intel platforms are in more danger than AMD.

My choice to run AMD these past 8 years has IMO been vindicated. Slower than Intel in most applications, sure. Safer? You betcha.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

From what I read, some Antivirus companies were exploiting it.

That’s why some Antivirus programs will be incompatible with the patch and give a BSOD.

[Swordmaker]

Meanwhile, I’m all AMD except for one old Pentium recording studio computer that never sees the internet. So I’m good...

Not completely, RW. Your OK with the Meltdown Intel issue, but the Spectre problem affects Intel, AMD, and ARM processors. Check to make sure your current anti-virus is watching for Spectre for AMD.

[Swordmaker]

AMD is completely unaffected by the Meltdown concern.

No media source has said otherwise. AMD also came out and said it’s impossible for any of their processors to have this concern. Probably because AMD takes a safer approach that is often times slower, but robust.

I wish the news media would quit combining the Meltdown and Spectre malware as if they were the same vulnerabilities. They aren't. Meltdown is the only one that attacks the 64 bit Intel processors sold for the last decade or so. Spectre attacks devices made with ALL Intel processors regardless of vintage or bit level, AMD processors, and ARM processors. . . just with a different vector of attack and modality of vulnerability. This makes for confusion among the public as to which and what is affected by which malware. The headlines don't help at all.