The entire year of 2019 was marked by a battle against various hardware vulnerabilities in processors, primarily related to speculative execution of instructions. Recently, a new type of attack on Intel CPU cache — CacheOut (CVE-2020-0549). Processor manufacturers, especially Intel, are striving to release patches as quickly as possible. Recently, Microsoft introduced another series of such updates.
All versions of Windows 10, including 1909 (November 2019 update) and 1903 (May 2019 update), as well as even the original build from 2015, received patches with microcode updates to eliminate hardware vulnerabilities in Intel processors. Interestingly, the preview version of the next major feature update of Windows 10, 2004, also known as 20H1, has not yet received updates.
Microcode updates address vulnerabilities CVE-2019-11091, CVE-2018-12126, CVE-2018-12127, and CVE-2018-12130, and also bring optimizations and improve support for the following CPU families:
- Denverton;
- Sandy Bridge;
- Sandy Bridge E, EP;
- Valley View;
- Whiskey Lake U.
It is important to note that these patches are only available from the Microsoft Update Catalog and are not distributed for Windows 10 devices through Windows Update. Interested users can download them via the following links:
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A complete list of supported processors and detailed descriptions of patches is published on . Microsoft and Intel recommend that users install the microcode updates as soon as possible. A system reboot will be required to complete the installation.
Also, on February 11, another monthly security update package is expected for all versions of Windows 10. In addition to addressing software vulnerabilities and bugs, they will likely include the updated microcode for Intel CPUs.
Source: 3dnews.ru
