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-rw-r--r--Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/index.rst1
-rw-r--r--Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/old_microcode.rst21
-rw-r--r--Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/processor_mmio_stale_data.rst4
3 files changed, 23 insertions, 3 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/index.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/index.rst
index ce296b8430fc..09890a8f3ee9 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/index.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/index.rst
@@ -23,4 +23,5 @@ are configurable at compile, boot or run time.
gather_data_sampling
reg-file-data-sampling
rsb
+ old_microcode
indirect-target-selection
diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/old_microcode.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/old_microcode.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..6ded8f86b8d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/old_microcode.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+=============
+Old Microcode
+=============
+
+The kernel keeps a table of released microcode. Systems that had
+microcode older than this at boot will say "Vulnerable". This means
+that the system was vulnerable to some known CPU issue. It could be
+security or functional, the kernel does not know or care.
+
+You should update the CPU microcode to mitigate any exposure. This is
+usually accomplished by updating the files in
+/lib/firmware/intel-ucode/ via normal distribution updates. Intel also
+distributes these files in a github repo:
+
+ https://github.com/intel/Intel-Linux-Processor-Microcode-Data-Files.git
+
+Just like all the other hardware vulnerabilities, exposure is
+determined at boot. Runtime microcode updates do not change the status
+of this vulnerability.
diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/processor_mmio_stale_data.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/processor_mmio_stale_data.rst
index 1302fd1b55e8..6dba18dbb9ab 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/processor_mmio_stale_data.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/processor_mmio_stale_data.rst
@@ -157,9 +157,7 @@ This is achieved by using the otherwise unused and obsolete VERW instruction in
combination with a microcode update. The microcode clears the affected CPU
buffers when the VERW instruction is executed.
-Kernel reuses the MDS function to invoke the buffer clearing:
-
- mds_clear_cpu_buffers()
+Kernel does the buffer clearing with x86_clear_cpu_buffers().
On MDS affected CPUs, the kernel already invokes CPU buffer clear on
kernel/userspace, hypervisor/guest and C-state (idle) transitions. No