intel-microcode is out of date, version 20170707 fixes errata on 6th and 7th generation platforms
Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
intel-microcode (Ubuntu) |
Fix Released
|
Undecided
|
Unassigned | ||
Trusty |
Fix Released
|
Undecided
|
Unassigned | ||
Xenial |
Fix Released
|
Undecided
|
Dave Chiluk | ||
Yakkety |
Won't Fix
|
Undecided
|
Unassigned | ||
Zesty |
Fix Released
|
Undecided
|
Dave Chiluk | ||
Artful |
Fix Released
|
Undecided
|
Unassigned |
Bug Description
[Impact]
* A security fix has been made available as part of intel-microcode
* It is advisable to apply it
* Thus an SRU of the latest intel-microcode is desirable for all stable releases
[Test Case]
* Upgrade intel-microcode package, if it is already installed / one is running on Intel CPUs
* Reboot and verify no averse results, and/or that microcode for your cpu was loaded as expected.
* Ocaml crash reproducer
Download report.tar.gz from https:/
$ mk-sbuild artful --arch=amd64
$ schroot -c artful -u root
// Artful was chosen as it contains the required versions of Ocaml for the reproducer.
$ apt install ocaml opam ocaml-findlib m4
$ opam init
$ opam install extprot
$ eval `opam config env`
$ while ocamlfind opt -c -g -bin-annot -ccopt -g -ccopt -O2 -ccopt -Wextra -ccopt '-Wstrict-
[Test case reporting]
* Please paste the output of:
dpkg-query -W intel-microcode
grep -E 'model|stepping' /proc/cpuinfo | sort -u
journalctl -k | grep microcode
[Regression Potential]
Microcode are proprietary blobs, and can cause any number of new errors and regressions. Microcode bugs have been reported before, therefore longer than usual phasing and monitoring of intel-microcode bugs should be done with extra care.
Additional notes from ~racb, wearing an ~ubuntu-sru hat:
SRU verification needs to take care to consider CPUs actually tested. We should have a representative sample of CPUs tested in SRU verification reports before considering release to the updates pockets.
Given the potential severity of regressions, we should keep this in the proposed pockets for longer than the usual minimum ageing period. Let's have users opt-in to this update first, and only recommend it once we confidence that a reasonable number (and representative CPU sample) of opted-in users have not hit any problems.
Testers: please mark verification-done-* only after you consider that the above additional requirements have been met.
[Other]
caml discussion describing test case to reproduce the crash.
https:/
* I did not backport the full debian/changelog, as some of the changes were ommitted for SRU purposes, and I don't like the idea of modifying the changelog of others.
* I did not backport this below change but I feel as though the SRU team should evaluate including it. I left it out due to the change as little as possible guidance from the SRU team. Additionally we have already been shipping the microcode version that included this change for a long time. More information here
https:/
'''
# 0x206c2: Intel Westmere B1 (Xeon 3600, 5600, Core i7 2nd gen).
#
# When Intel released a fix for Intel SA-00030, they issued a MCU that
# bumps the minimum acceptable version of the Intel TXT ACMs in the
# TPM persistent storage. This permanently blacklists the vulnerable
# ACMs *even on older microcode* in order to make it somewhat harder
# to work around the security fix through a BIOS downgrade attack.
#
# It is possible that such a microcode update, when peformed by the
# operating system, could sucessfully trigger the TPM persistent
# storage update Intel intended to happen during firmware boot: we
# simply don't know enough to rule it out. Should that happen, Intel
# TXT will be permanently disabled. This could easily interact very
# badly with the firmware, rendering the system unbootable. If *that*
# happens, it would likely require either a TPM module replacement
# (rendering sealed data useless) or a direct flash of a new BIOS with
# updated ACMs, to repair.
#
# Blacklist updates for signature 0x206c2 as a safety net.
IUC_EXCLUDE += -s !0x206c2
'''
* I versioned the packages 3.20170511.
=======
[Original bug report]
NB: I am *not* directly affected by this bug.
Henrique emailed a warning to Debian devel today [1] on a potentially serious issue with (sky|kaby)lake processors. Excerpt:
"This warning advisory is relevant for users of systems with the Intel
processors code-named "Skylake" and "Kaby Lake". These are: the 6th and
7th generation Intel Core processors (desktop, embedded, mobile and
HEDT), their related server processors (such as Xeon v5 and Xeon v6), as
well as select Intel Pentium processor models.
TL;DR: unfixed Skylake and Kaby Lake processors could, in some
situations, dangerously misbehave when hyper-threading is enabled.
Disable hyper-threading immediately in BIOS/UEFI to work around the
problem. Read this advisory for instructions about an Intel-provided
fix."
It is probably a good idea to:
(1) issue a warning to our users about this;
(2) update intel-microcode on all our supported releases
I leave the discussion on whether this can have security implications to others.
[1] https:/
ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 17.04
Package: intel-microcode 3.20161104.1
ProcVersionSign
Uname: Linux 4.10.0-24-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.4-0ubuntu4.1
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity:Unity7
Date: Sun Jun 25 10:14:19 2017
InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-05-26 (30 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 17.04 "Zesty Zapus" - Release amd64 (20170412)
SourcePackage: intel-microcode
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
Changed in intel-microcode (Ubuntu Artful): | |
status: | Confirmed → Fix Released |
no longer affects: | intel |
description: | updated |
Changed in intel-microcode (Ubuntu Zesty): | |
assignee: | Dimitri John Ledkov (xnox) → nobody |
Changed in intel-microcode (Ubuntu Xenial): | |
assignee: | Dimitri John Ledkov (xnox) → nobody |
Changed in intel-microcode (Ubuntu Yakkety): | |
assignee: | Dimitri John Ledkov (xnox) → nobody |
status: | In Progress → Confirmed |
Changed in intel-microcode (Ubuntu Xenial): | |
status: | In Progress → Confirmed |
Changed in intel-microcode (Ubuntu Zesty): | |
status: | In Progress → Confirmed |
tags: | added: lts |
summary: |
- Please update microcode to version 20170511 on all supported platforms + intel-microcode should be updated, version 20170511 fixes severe errata + on 6th and 7th generation platforms |
summary: |
- intel-microcode should be updated, version 20170511 fixes severe errata - on 6th and 7th generation platforms + intel-microcode should be updated for LTS releases, version 20170511 + fixes severe errata on 6th and 7th generation platforms |
Changed in intel-microcode (Ubuntu Yakkety): | |
assignee: | nobody → Dave Chiluk (chiluk) |
Changed in intel-microcode (Ubuntu Xenial): | |
assignee: | nobody → Dave Chiluk (chiluk) |
Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.