[Bug 1700373] Re: intel-microcode is out of date, version 20170511 fixes errata on 6th and 7th generation platforms

Dave Chiluk 1700373 at bugs.launchpad.net
Thu Jul 13 03:20:58 UTC 2017


I have packaged up 20170707 for testing in my ppa available

https://launchpad.net/~chiluk/+archive/ubuntu/1700373

These are versioned as

Z=3.20170511.1~ubuntu17.04.0+lp1700373
Y=3.20160714.1+lp1700373b2
X=3.20151106.1+lp1700373b2

I'd appreciate some help testing these before I push on the SRU.

I've also uploaded correctly versioned packages for x, y, z to their
appropriate queues.

** Changed in: intel-microcode (Ubuntu Zesty)
       Status: Fix Released => Confirmed

** Changed in: intel-microcode (Ubuntu Zesty)
     Assignee: (unassigned) => Dave Chiluk (chiluk)

** Tags removed: verification-done-zesty verification-needed
** Tags added: verification-done-artful

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Title:
  intel-microcode is out of date, version 20170511 fixes errata on 6th
  and 7th generation platforms

Status in intel-microcode package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in intel-microcode source package in Trusty:
  Won't Fix
Status in intel-microcode source package in Xenial:
  Confirmed
Status in intel-microcode source package in Yakkety:
  Confirmed
Status in intel-microcode source package in Zesty:
  Confirmed
Status in intel-microcode source package in Artful:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  [Impact]

  * A security fix has been made available as part of intel-microcode
  * It is advisable to apply it
  * Thus an SRU of the latest intel-microcode is desirable for all stable releases

  [Test Case]

  * Upgrade intel-microcode package, if it is already installed / one is
  running on Intel CPUs

  * Reboot and verify no averse results, and/or that microcode for your
  cpu was loaded as expected.

  [Test case reporting]
  * Please paste the output of:

  dpkg-query -W intel-microcode
  grep -E 'model|stepping' /proc/cpuinfo | sort -u
  journalctl -k | grep microcode

  [Regression Potential]
  Microcode are proprietary blobs, and can cause any number of new errors and regressions. Microcode bugs have been reported before, therefore longer than usual phasing and monitoring of intel-microcode bugs should be done with extra care.

  [Other]
  caml discussion describing test case to reproduce the crash.
  https://caml.inria.fr/mantis/view.php?id=7452

  * I did not backport the full debian/changelog, as some of the changes
  were ommitted for SRU purposes, and I don't like the idea of modifying
  the changelog of others.

  * I did not backport this below change but I feel as though the SRU team should evaluate including it.  I left it out due to the change as little as possible guidance from the SRU team.  Additionally the microcode version that included this change was somewhere around 20111205. More information here
  https://security-center.intel.com/advisory.aspx?intelid=INTEL-SA-00030&languageid=en-fr 

  '''
  # 0x206c2: Intel Westmere B1 (Xeon 3600, 5600, Core i7 2nd gen).
  #
  # When Intel released a fix for Intel SA-00030, they issued a MCU that
  # bumps the minimum acceptable version of the Intel TXT ACMs in the
  # TPM persistent storage.  This permanently blacklists the vulnerable
  # ACMs *even on older microcode* in order to make it somewhat harder
  # to work around the security fix through a BIOS downgrade attack.
  #
  # It is possible that such a microcode update, when peformed by the
  # operating system, could sucessfully trigger the TPM persistent
  # storage update Intel intended to happen during firmware boot: we
  # simply don't know enough to rule it out.  Should that happen, Intel
  # TXT will be permanently disabled.  This could easily interact very
  # badly with the firmware, rendering the system unbootable.  If *that*
  # happens, it would likely require either a TPM module replacement
  # (rendering sealed data useless) or a direct flash of a new BIOS with
  # updated ACMs, to repair.
  #
  # Blacklist updates for signature 0x206c2 as a safety net.
  IUC_EXCLUDE += -s !0x206c2
  '''

  * I versioned the packages 3.20170511.1~ubuntu<release> as I feel this
  more appropriately reflects the contents of each package rather than
  simply incrementing the ubuntu version number.

  
  =========================================================================

  [Original bug report]

  NB: I am *not* directly affected by this bug.

  Henrique emailed a warning to Debian devel today [1] on a potentially
  serious issue with (sky|kaby)lake processors. Excerpt:

  "This warning advisory is relevant for users of systems with the Intel
  processors code-named "Skylake" and "Kaby Lake".  These are: the 6th and
  7th generation Intel Core processors (desktop, embedded, mobile and
  HEDT), their related server processors (such as Xeon v5 and Xeon v6), as
  well as select Intel Pentium processor models.

  TL;DR: unfixed Skylake and Kaby Lake processors could, in some
  situations, dangerously misbehave when hyper-threading is enabled.
  Disable hyper-threading immediately in BIOS/UEFI to work around the
  problem.  Read this advisory for instructions about an Intel-provided
  fix."

  It is probably a good idea to:
  (1) issue a warning to our users about this;
  (2) update intel-microcode on all our supported releases

  I leave the discussion on whether this can have security implications
  to others.

  [1] https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2017/06/msg00308.html

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 17.04
  Package: intel-microcode 3.20161104.1
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.10.0-24.28-generic 4.10.15
  Uname: Linux 4.10.0-24-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.20.4-0ubuntu4.1
  Architecture: amd64
  CurrentDesktop: Unity:Unity7
  Date: Sun Jun 25 10:14:19 2017
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-05-26 (30 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 17.04 "Zesty Zapus" - Release amd64 (20170412)
  SourcePackage: intel-microcode
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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