Intel advises customers not to use its patched patch against Specter

Soon after the publication of information about the vulnerabilities of modern processors Specter and Meltdown, Intel introduced the first updates, designed to reduce the risk of new potential attacks.

Intel is preparing another patch against the Specter vulnerability after users began to report that the latest fix was causing problems with system reboots. Accordingly, the company now recommends that its partners stop installing the original patch and instead begin testing a new, improved version.

Executive vice president and manager of the data center, Navin Shenoy, said in an official blog that the company "identified the root cause" of the instability of systems based on Broadwell and Haswell processors, and last weekend gave partners a new correction to run-in. While all that ordinary users can do, be patient and wait for the final version of the patch.

"We recommend OEMs, cloud service providers, system manufacturers, software vendors and end users to stop installing current versions of updates, as they can lead to more frequent, rather than expected, reboots and other unpredictable system behavior," Mr. Shenoy emphasized.

Intel also acknowledged that the problem patch also concerns the newer families of its processors Ivy Bridge, Sandy Bridge, Skylake and Kaby Lake, and it is not yet clear whether this problem will be fixed in the upcoming update.