Intel bug incoming.

So is that really all there is to it? Not allowing scripting to run when you surf the web?

Pretty much (and the usual good practices; keeping your system updated, not running random email attachments etc.). The real nasty side of Meltdown was on shared hosting (AWS, Azure, etc), where as a guest you don't know who else might be hosted on the same physical hardware able to run the exploit.
 
Well I feel a lot better having all those laptops now. I felt a little foolish at first for having so many potentially vulnerable machines TBH, when it sounded like the sky was falling, but if blocking scripting is all it takes it's business as usual for me.

The Intel Management Engine is a bigger deal than this IMO.
 
but if blocking scripting is all it takes it's business as usual for me.
Seems like a lot of sites however insist of you opening up noscript. Gone are the days of good web site development practice, where you were directed to non java based versions if javascript was disabled.
 
More often than not it doesn't take enabling every script that it will list for a site to work. It's being able to recognize which ones and enabling them one by one till you get full functionality. After a while you can tell which are more likely.
 
Today looks like is mine 2.8 GHz Quad Core Intel "Core i7" I7-860 (Lynnfield/Nehalem) (iMac 11,1, 2009) microcode updated. I am using
sysutils/cpupdate and it works without problems.
Now I have "hw.ibrs_active: 1"
 
I'm guessing the class action law-suits that will occur will force Intel to fix more CPUs than they want to, and/or force to issue deeply discounted new CPUs to allow users to replace their not-so-old-not-yet-end-of-life-still-works-fine-for-me-machines at some sort of fair market price where price includes some sort of fair market value of the old machines. So like either a vehicle recall and/or a buyout vehicle offer.
 
Just so it doesn't seem like I am, I'm not discounting the severity or the enormity of the problem. It's that I see it as another in a long list of computer vulnerabilities I already have to deal with, just like everybody else. One that for me as a user falls into a category of threats I'm already addressing.

The aspect of shared hosting applies to me, too, but I have to trust somebody else knows what they're doing on that end of things.
 
I see you still have hope...

Seeing how they are dragging their feet on this, it reminds me of an old saying around here. "They are running so fast you could re-sole their boots while they are at it".

It will be exactly as with vehicles. Nothing will really change, too much campaining money is at stake.
 
Seeing how they are dragging their feet on this, it reminds me of an old saying around here. "They are running so fast you could re-sole their boots while they are at it".

It will be exactly as with vehicles. Nothing will really change, too much campaining money is at stake.

We have one, too.

"The check is in the mail."

I'll believe it when I see it.
 
This seems like if I try to heal a mental illness using psychology.
I don't know if it's ridiculous, if even it's possible, or if is real. It doesn't seems like from another world, but seems like from another level of this reality. A level hard to access.
I mean: we only can access the software through the hardware. Why we can't use the same medium for try to protect ourselves?
 
2: Apart of the medium of access, we must think.
As I know, the machines can abstract the information received. The users can do the same, but in a level much more complex.
Depending of the level of knowing, a programmer can fix a bug (for example). But what happens if the trouble is in hardware level?
 
You prevent the bad software intended to exploit it from running, best as possible. The whole idea behind not allowing scripting when you surf the web.
Thanks, but that wasn't what I intended to mean.
I was talking about the fail in Intel/AMD.
I read that only RHEL has a level of security of 5 (which means a lot). I remember it vaguely, so let me try to search the link and translate the article.
 
Is there a remedy going to be available for i386 architecture on the next FreeBSD-11.2?

My i386 FreeBSD 11.1-RELEASE-9 box got the kernel update and Intel microcode updates are downloaded with boot.

I don't know if the microcode updates are placebo feel good measures or not, but I don't assume it's any safer now than it was at first and still take steps to mitigate it on my end.
 
Yes, that's what I have. My i386 uses an Intel Dual Core T2060 @ 1.6GHz and it got a microcode update. All the rest are 64bit Intel Core 2 Duo and they update as well.
 
Yes, that's what I have. My i386 uses an Intel Dual Core T2060 @ 1.6GHz and it got a microcode update. All the rest are 64bit Intel Core 2 Duo and they update as well.
Do you really believe this?
If you were using cpupdate's -f or -d options to show the information hidden in the microcode update file header, you could easily find out the actual update date (not the file timestamp!).
For the T2060:
File /home/stefan/Downloads/microcode-20180425/intel-ucode/06-0e-0c is single-blobbed
Blob 1 of 1 headers info:
SignatureInt: 6EC
-> Family: 06 Model: 0E Stepping: 0C
ExtFamily: 00 ExtModel: 00
IntFamily: 06 IntModel: 0E
ProcessorType: 00
Date 2006/05/01
ucode rev 0x00000054
Header ver 0x00000001
Loader rev 0x00000001
Data size 4048 (0xfd0)
Flags 32 (0x00000020)
Has no extended header.
In case somebody is interested in learning what is actually in the April 25 microcode update files without using cpupdate, I have pastebinned the output of cpupdate -Ivvd <ucode-dir>.
Expect some more very soon revelations of things Intel probably hopes not to become too public. Stay tuned.
 
Do you really believe this?

No, I don't believe anything they say and already indicated as much:

I don't know if the microcode updates are placebo feel good measures or not, but I don't assume it's any safer now than it was at first and still take steps to mitigate it on my end.

It is good to see you back, I wondered how you were doing.

Did you see I changed my x11-wm/fluxbox config so it hopefully doesn't look so much like a Windows desktop? ;)
 
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