Intel Microcode vulnerabilities

Releases

• Ubuntu 18.04 ESM
• Ubuntu 16.04 ESM
• Ubuntu 14.04 ESM

Packages

• intel-microcode - Processor microcode for Intel CPUs

Details

It was discovered that memory present in the L1 data cache of an Intel CPU
core may be exposed to a malicious process that is executing on the CPU
core. This vulnerability is also known as L1 Terminal Fault (L1TF). A local
attacker in a guest virtual machine could use this to expose sensitive
information (memory from other guests or the host OS). (CVE-2018-3646)

Jann Horn and Ken Johnson discovered that microprocessors utilizing
speculative execution of a memory read may allow unauthorized memory reads
via a sidechannel attack. This flaw is known as Spectre Variant 4. A local
attacker could use this to expose sensitive information, including kernel
memory. (CVE-2018-3639)

Zdenek Sojka, Rudolf Marek, Alex Zuepke, and Innokentiy Sennovskiy
discovered that microprocessors that perform speculative reads of
system registers may allow unauthorized disclosure of system parameters
via a sidechannel attack. This vulnerability is also known as Rogue
System Register Read (RSRE). An attacker could use this to expose
sensitive information. (CVE-2018-3640)