Programmers are scrambling to overhaul the open-source Linux kernel's virtual memory system. Meanwhile, Microsoft is expected to publicly introduce the necessary changes to its Windows operating system in an upcoming Patch Tuesday: these changes were seeded to beta testers running fast-ring Windows Insider builds in November and December.
Crucially, these updates to both Linux and Windows will incur a performance hit on Intel products. The effects are still being benchmarked, however we're looking at a ballpark figure of five to 30 per cent slow down, depending on the task and the processor model. More recent Intel chips have features – such as PCID – to reduce the performance hit.
engine
12:41 pm on Jan 3, 2018 (gmt 0)
Wow, up to 30% slow down is serious, especially for some systems. I guess we can't skip this one.
I've come to look upon OS updates with more dread than ever in recent months, and years. Not just Windows, but iOS and Android. They are all getting clumsy and inconvenient, and introduce new issues.
brotherhood of LAN
1:50 pm on Jan 3, 2018 (gmt 0)
Seems unavoidable for any system that has untrusted users, including internet browsing. Coin miners should be OK though
AMD's share price is up near 8% just now. Historically it'd be interesting to understand how such a perf hit would have affected market share over time.
LifeinAsia
5:44 pm on Jan 3, 2018 (gmt 0)
It is understood the bug is present in modern Intel processors produced in the past decade.
So if you're one of those people who don't update their computers for many years at a time, you're good to go! :)
All kidding aside, I do have some production web servers with chips designed last decade.
motorhaven
11:05 pm on Jan 3, 2018 (gmt 0)
Since my servers are AMD based I'm hoping they roll out kernel changes which only impact Intel, rather than making it a global change.
brotherhood of LAN
1:22 am on Jan 4, 2018 (gmt 0)
As the story evolves, it appears other chip manufacturers are affected by variations of this kind of exploit.
