Intel had trouble with its first patches for specific variants of Spectre but solved its problems in March. Since then, Microsoft has been sending out patches to Windows 10 as they arrived. This week’s release sees the company push out more Intel microcode updates. The company has been releasing patches sporadically, covering different processors. You may remember Meltdown and Spectre left vulnerabilities in most Intel CPUs. In other words, fixing the problems is a painstaking task. Below are the microcode updates from Intel, which Microsoft is sending to Windows 10 users. These are the CPUs covered in the latest roll out:
Broadwell Server E, EP, EP4S Skylake Server SP (H0, M0, U0) Broadwell Server EX Skylake D (Bakerville) Skylake X (Basin Falls)
As mentioned, the release covers several Windows 10 version. Included are KB4100347 for version 1803 (April 2018 Update), KB4090007 for version 1709 (Fall Creators Update), and KB4091663 for version 1703 (Creators Update). Additionally, KB4091664 is available for Windows 10 users still running the two-year old Anniversary Update (1607).
Recent Patches
Microsoft’s recent releases to mitigate Spectre have highlighted just how complex it has been to protect against the vulnerability. The company rolled out a widespread patch for Windows 10 last month. However, users soon discovered these patches were broken. Specifically, there was an issue with KB4100347, with users reporting the update is causing booting problems in machines after it is installed.
