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That's so stupid, also because they have fixes for Zen and Zen 2 based Epyc CPUs available.
Intel vs. AMD isn't "bad guys" vs. "good guys". Either company will take every opportunity to screw their customers over. Sure, "don't buy Intel" holds true for 13th and 14th gen Core CPUs specifically, but other than that it's more of a pick your poison.
Tangent: If we started buying risc-v systems we might get to a point where they can actually compete.
That's still far away from us as a consumer standpoint, but I'm eagerly waiting for a time when I could buy a RISC V laptop with atleast midrange computing capabalities
I‘m more on the builder/tinkerer side so I‘m pretty much in starting position with risc-v now. But yes, its going to be some time before any of it is user ready as a pc.
I'm not buying hardware that doesn't suit my needs as an investment hoping maybe it eventually will.
Jeff Geerling had a video recently about the state of RISC V for desktop. https://youtu.be/YxtFctEsHy0?si=SUQBiepSeOne8-2u
Really not good enough from AMD. I wonder if Intel wasn't a complete dumpster fire right now if they would still cut off the fix at Zen 3 (I doubt it). There's really no reason not to issue a fix for these other than they don't want to pay the engineers for the time to do it, and they think it won't cost them any reputational damage.
I hate that every product and company sucks so hard these days.
Attackers need to access the system kernel to exploit the Sinkclose vulnerability, so the system would have to already be compromised. The hack itself is a sophisticated vector that is usually only used by state-sponsored hackers, so most casual users should take that into account.
So it's a vulnerability that requires you to.already have been compromised. Hardly seems like news.
I can understand AMD only patching server chips that by definition will be under greater threat. On the other hand it's probably not worth the bad publicity not to fix more.
The reason that this is news is because it allows malware to embed itself into the processor microcode once kernel is breached. IE: If it is exploited for compromise, you either have to have the knowledge and hardware to reset the processor microcode manually (Requires an SPI flash tool) or you toss the hardware entirely. There's no just 'blow the drive away and reinstall the OS' solution available.
This sounds weird. I was in the impression that operating systems load updated cpu microcode at every boot, because it does not survive a power cycle, and because the one embedded in the BIOS/UEFI firmware is very often outdated. But then how exactly can a virus persist itself for practically forever?
And that introduces a specific type of supply chain threat: someone who possesses a computer can infect their own computer, sell it or transfer it to the target, and then use the embedded microcode against the target, even if the target completely reformats and reinstalls a new OS from scratch.
That's not going to affect most people, but for certain types of high value targets they now need to make sure that the hardware they buy hasn't already been infected in the supply chain.
It’s important because it allows them to directly modify the CPU’s microcode. Basically, the CPU has its own set of instructions, called microcode, which controls how the chip functions on a physical level. If they manage to change your microcode, even a full system reformat won’t kill the virus; You’ll need to either re-flash the CPU (which is not something the standard user or even power user will know how to do) or replace the entire CPU.
That being said it builds up vulnerabilities in anti-cheats to another beautiful crowstrike like domino cluster fuck
I feel like this is the perfect place for Right to Repair legislation: the product is broken? And it's outside your support window? Then give customers what they need to make the fix themselves. It's not good enough to say "meh, guess you gotta buy one of our newer chips then 🤷"
Especially since the Linux community are the types to go way overkill
The enterprise models are getting patched but the consumer ones aren’t. Shame on them.
Consumer usage is not really concerned by the attack scenario of this vulnerability from what I understand. The prerequisite is to have access to the bios so it's already game over at this point.
lol for the past 15 years I have "rebuilt" my desktop every 5 years but I didn't expect the would try to force me out of my 7 3700x right on the date
Which is a shame because our 3700X is still pretty potent for the average user or gamer.
AMD has unfortunately a long history of abandoning products before its reasonable on its graphics division. Its not really acceptable, up until earlier this year my NAS/server was running a 3600 and its only for power saving purposes I changed that as its still a very workable CPU in that role.
Er I'm still running a FX-8350 as a gaming machine (not AAA games obviously). I had another one as a host for a few VMs and it was more than enough till the motherboard went. One day I'll upgrade I guess.
Yay, another BIOS update!
I am getting so sick of all these BIOS updates because of all these security vulnerabilities all the time. It is so tiring having to set up my settings all over again all of the time. Earlier this year, or maybe it was last year, it felt like every month or two there was a new BIOS update for a new security vulnerability.
So I have a 3700x, I've read about the vulnerability but don't fully understand it. How at risk am I?
If an attacker gets access to your system, they will be able to ensure you can't get rid of their access
It will persist across operating system installs
However, this requires them to get access first
If they get root or admin they can hack the chip itself.
But minor exploits, nada, no issue, you good. Gotta get root to make it happen.
Problem is if you, as they say, get got, you have no way of knowing if they're in your CPU, and no way to fix if they did -- basically gotta trash it and replace.
so that means you can internally flash the bios chip from the os?
would be cool if there were coreboot builds for these platforms, this exploit seems pretty useful
Basically, reflash spi chips and it'll be gone, and to be infected by that, person gotta have physical access to hardware he hacks, and physical access is root access as always has been
Shit, I have desktops running with 2200G and 2400G.