Important: microcode_ctl security update

Related Vulnerabilities: CVE-2017-5715   CVE-2017-5715  

Synopsis

Important: microcode_ctl security update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory: Important

Topic

An update for microcode_ctl is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2 Advanced Update Support, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.4 Advanced Update Support, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 Advanced Update Support, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.6 Advanced Update Support, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.6 Telco Extended Update Support, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.7 Extended Update Support, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 Advanced Update Support, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 Telco Extended Update Support, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 Update Services for SAP Solutions, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3 Extended Update Support.

Red Hat Product Security has rated this update as having a security impact of Important. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available for each vulnerability from the CVE link(s) in the References section.

Description

The microcode_ctl packages provide microcode updates for Intel and AMD processors.

This update supersedes microcode provided by Red Hat with the CVE-2017-5715 (“Spectre”) CPU branch injection vulnerability mitigation. (Historically, Red Hat has provided updated microcode, developed by our microprocessor partners, as a customer convenience.) Further testing has uncovered problems with the microcode provided along with the “Spectre” mitigation that could lead to system instabilities. As a result, Red Hat is providing an microcode update that reverts to the last known good microcode version dated before 03 January 2018. Red Hat strongly recommends that customers contact their hardware provider for the latest microcode updates.

IMPORTANT: Customers using Intel Skylake-, Broadwell-, and Haswell-based platforms must obtain and install updated microcode from their hardware vendor immediately. The "Spectre" mitigation requires both an updated kernel from Red Hat and updated microcode from your hardware vendor.

Solution

For details on how to apply this update, which includes the changes described in this advisory, refer to:

https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258

Note: a system reboot is necessary for this update to take effect.

Affected Products

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 7 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 i386
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support 7.6 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support 7.5 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support 7.4 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support 7.3 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support 6.7 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support 6.7 i386
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 i386
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Scientific Computing 7 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux EUS Compute Node 7.6 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux EUS Compute Node 7.5 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux EUS Compute Node 7.4 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux EUS Compute Node 7.3 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 7.6 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 7.4 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 7.3 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 7.2 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 6.5 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 6.4 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 6.2 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 7 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 7 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 i386
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Scientific Computing 6 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux EUS Compute Node 6.7 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 6.6 x86_64
  • RHEL for SAP HANA - Extended Update Support 6.7 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - TUS 7.6 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - TUS 7.4 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - TUS 7.3 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - TUS 7.2 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - TUS 6.6 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Update Services for SAP Solutions 7.6 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Update Services for SAP Solutions 7.4 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Update Services for SAP Solutions 7.3 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Update Services for SAP Solutions 7.2 x86_64

Fixes

  • BZ - 1519780 - CVE-2017-5715 hw: cpu: speculative execution branch target injection

CVEs

(none)

References