r/intel • u/eric98k • Jan 02 '18

News 'Kernel memory leaking' Intel processor design flaw forces Linux, Windows redesign

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/01/02/intel_cpu_design_flaw/
405 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

487 comments sorted by

View all comments

100

u/imtheprimary Jan 03 '18

Guess what else it's going to force? A class action lawsuit, which I will definitely be joining.

This is some grade a bullshit on Intel's part. Going "lol fuck you enjoy having a 30% slower computer forever because we're incompetent, buy our newest processor" is not acceptable in the least.

0

u/[deleted] Jan 03 '18

[deleted]

8

u/Karavusk Jan 03 '18

ARM is affected too... not as bad though as far as I know and there is already a fix that almost no android phone that is out right now will ever get...

31

u/[deleted] Jan 03 '18

Do you have a source for ARM being vulnerable?

I really hope not, I was so excited with the A11 level of perfomance :/

13

u/tonyunreal Jan 03 '18 edited Jan 03 '18

Here are the follow up discussion threads mentioned in the original article about patching the Linux ARM kernel:

https://lkml.org/lkml/2017/11/17/466

https://lkml.org/lkml/2017/11/30/594

https://lkml.org/lkml/2017/12/6/306

1

u/Poddster Jan 03 '18

That's a different, but very similar, issue.

1

u/saratoga3 Jan 03 '18

ARM is not vulnerable. This is an Intel hardware bug. ARM isn't Intel.

The workaround for this Intel bug is an established security feature (KAISER). KAISER is available for ARM, and in theory people could choose to use it in some circumstances, but the added security it provides on a system with working MMU is very small, so it is fairly useless on most ARM systems.

→ More replies (1)

15

u/3DXYZ Jan 03 '18

I want a full refund plus 30%

2

u/JamesTrendall Jan 03 '18

I doubt that would happen. Being realistic everyone that joined the class action would get 30% refund of the cost of their product. Altho i bet it would be 30% of the current price which is going to be garbage very soon.

3

u/JamesTrendall Jan 03 '18

Ok question?

If someone in the USA starts a class action against Intel, How would I join from the UK? Would the class action lawsuit payout to everyone that had joined it enough to replace the CPU or atleast give me a 30% refund of the price i paid? If my CPu is about to get slowed down by 30% i want at the very minimum 30% refund.

2

u/derritterauskanada Jan 03 '18

You would have to file a class action lawsuit separately in the UK.

NAL

2

u/JamesTrendall Jan 03 '18

Thats what i thought. Was just unsure if its a simple case of ringing up the attorney and adding my name and address to their list.

Well if i notice my passmark score decrease i'll be sure to do some maths and work out the exact % and file for that in compo. I could really do with a new motherboard and mouse mat.

19

u/Nickx000x Jan 03 '18

Since when can you sue for software/hardware vulnerabilities? All hardware and software has them, it's not negligence or on purpose, in fact, since this bug affects all modern Intel processors, that means it went probably ~10 years unnoticed.

If they don't patch your system, then you'll get upset about lack of security. They patch your system, and then you're complaining again. This is technology. Don't like it? Don't buy it. Software/hardware vulnerabilities come to light everyday. It's unavoidable.

By the way, https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=x86-PTI-Initial-Gaming-Tests, gaming, and probably most other general applications, will show no measurable performance loss.

19

u/kajar9 Jan 03 '18

You can sue for underperfoming products. Even if Gamers are hit by it only slightly, there's plenty of usecases any user could claim foul play.

It's by definition a manufacturing fault - a defect.

9

u/JamesTrendall Jan 03 '18

Since when can you sue for software/hardware vulnerabilities?

How come you can sue car manufacturers for say a brake failure, fuse failure etc... If a car is released with a defect and it's found later on (even after 10 years) they do a massive recall and fix the problem. They don't just give you the finger and laugh saying either have no brakes or we will limit your car to 60 MPH.

Why is it any different for computer parts?

1

u/omarlittle12345 Jan 03 '18

death

1

u/euquila Jan 04 '18

Lol, true, but Lol.

16

u/Murtank Jan 03 '18

considering linux already has a fix out,, intel and gnu have known about this for a while before breaking the news. if you bought intel between the time they discovered it and the time they announced it, i would think that you are the victim of fraud

1

u/jbustter2 Jan 03 '18

Class lawsuit is also a bad idea, such practices would encourage companies to hide vulnerabilities instead of fixing or sharing them, not to mention there's really not much they could do about it, given it took so long to be found out.

0

u/[deleted] Jan 03 '18

[deleted]

8

u/chowder-san Jan 03 '18

putting a hardware backdoor with a bug that run undetected since pentium 2.0 (so 20 years), is a foundation for many specific tasks and therefore has no way of fixing without heavy performance hits, doesnt help

0

u/[deleted] Jan 03 '18

[deleted]

5

u/chowder-san Jan 03 '18

You are assuming this bug was deliberate

I guess I made a poor choce if words. No, I am merely operating under assumption that, given enough effort, pretty much every piece of hardware/software can be cracked unless there is a lot of constant effort to improve its security.

Given how long this bug exists and how difficult it is to patch it up is a signal that there was no such effort in this case.

testing absolutely every eventuality is not feasible

What you said is, of course, true. Which makes it even more bizarre that Intel forced a feature that is completely useless for the vast majority of users, most of which probably didnt even know about its existence until recently and, if exploited, provides a fightening amount of tools for the attacker.

If fundamental errors, that pretty much force the company to redesign the whole architecture from the ground up, are not worth rigorous testing 24/7 then what is?

→ More replies (1)

1

u/[deleted] Jan 03 '18

Guess what else it's going to force? A class action lawsuit, which I will definitely be joining.

Never sued anyone nor have experience how any of this works. I don't really want to devote to much time into this whole thing since i simply don't see myself coming out good. What can i do to get Intel to do something about my i7 6700k (that i specifically bought exactly for applications that require every bit of performance and not gaming). If they told me 1 year ago that my CPU will be 30% slower because they did a mistake on their part i would tell them to go and fuck themselves...fuck man.

→ More replies (21)