CPU bugs Meltdown and Spectre

You have probably heard from the CPU bugs Meltdown and Spectre which affect many systems around the world. While the media is writing lots of articles about these bugs, there is still no final word on the consequences of the bug family. Meltdown and Spectre consist of multiple bugs and affect specific situations. The developer of operating systems, applications, and the processor vendors are still investigating when and how the bugs can be exploited and how they can be patched.

GNU/Linux users might want to start with the patches supplied by the web browser developer. The Linux kernel has some fixes in 4.14.11 and 4.14.12. Further changes to the code are expected as soon as the kernel developers know more details about the bugs.

While the world may not end yet, we will review our hardware policies.

• Meltdown and Spectre Linux Kernel Status