Ubuntu 20.10: USN-4628-2 Critical: Intel Microcode Regression

ubuntu

November 12, 2020

USN-4628-1 introduced a regression in the Intel Microcode for some processors.

Summary

USN-4628-1 introduced a regression in the Intel Microcode for some processors.

Software Description:

- intel-microcode: Processor microcode for Intel CPUs

Details:

USN-4628-1 provided updated Intel Processor Microcode. Unfortunately,

that update prevented certain processors in the Intel Tiger Lake family

from booting successfully. This update reverts the microcode update for

the Tiger Lake processor family.

Please note that the 'dis_ucode_ldr' kernel command line option can be

added in the boot menu to disable microcode loading for system recovery.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Original advisory details:

Moritz Lipp, Michael Schwarz, Andreas Kogler, David Oswald, Catherine

Easdon, Claudio Canella, and Daniel Gruss discovered that the Intel Running

Average Power Limit (RAPL) feature of some Intel processors allowed a side- channel attack based on power consumption measurements. A local attacker

could possibly use this to expose sensitive infor...

Read the Full Advisory

Topics Covered

security advisory system update ubuntu regression sensitive information exposure intel microcode processor issue

Update Instructions

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following
package versions:

Ubuntu 20.10:
  intel-microcode                 3.20201110.0ubuntu0.20.10.2

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS:
  intel-microcode                 3.20201110.0ubuntu0.20.04.2

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS:
  intel-microcode                 3.20201110.0ubuntu0.18.04.2

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS:
  intel-microcode                 3.20201110.0ubuntu0.16.04.2

Ubuntu 14.04 ESM:
  intel-microcode                 3.20201110.0ubuntu0.14.04.2

After a standard system update you need to reboot your computer to make
all the necessary changes.