[Bug 1759920] Re: intel-microcode 3.20180312.0 causes lockup at login screen

Sat May 5 10:42:43 UTC 2018

This is *not* fixed for Xenial. I had originally applied the workaround
in the bug description to get my computer to boot again. After seeing a
"fixed" status for this bug, I updated intel-microcode. After I
rebooted, my computer would not boot to the kernel which had the
microcode applied (4.4.0-122). It would only boot to the previous kernel
without the microcode (4.4.0-119).

$ tail -n 5 /var/log/apt/history.log
Start-Date: 2018-05-05  06:06:43
Commandline: apt install intel-microcode
Upgrade: intel-microcode:amd64 (3.20180108.0+really20170707ubuntu16.04.1, 3.20180312.0~ubuntu16.04.1)
End-Date: 2018-05-05  06:06:57

$ uname -a
Linux thinkpad 4.4.0-119-generic #143-Ubuntu SMP Mon Apr 2 16:08:24 UTC 2018 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

$ dpkg -l | grep linux-image-4 | grep ^i
ii  linux-image-4.4.0-112-generic               4.4.0-112.135                                amd64        Linux kernel image for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-image-4.4.0-119-generic               4.4.0-119.143                                amd64        Linux kernel image for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-image-4.4.0-122-generic               4.4.0-122.146                                amd64        Linux kernel image for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:	Ubuntu
Description:	Ubuntu 16.04.4 LTS
Release:	16.04
Codename:	xenial

$ cat /proc/cpuinfo 
processor	: 0
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 58
model name	: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3317U CPU @ 1.70GHz
stepping	: 9
microcode	: 0x1c
cpu MHz		: 893.761
cache size	: 3072 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 4
core id		: 0
cpu cores	: 2
apicid		: 0
initial apicid	: 0
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 13
wp		: yes
flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf eagerfpu pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm epb retpoline kaiser tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase smep erms xsaveopt dtherm ida arat pln pts
bugs		: cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2
bogomips	: 3391.94
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1759920

Title:
  intel-microcode 3.20180312.0 causes lockup at login screen

Status in intel-microcode package in Ubuntu:
  Invalid
Status in linux package in Ubuntu:
  Invalid
Status in intel-microcode source package in Trusty:
  Invalid
Status in linux source package in Trusty:
  Fix Released
Status in intel-microcode source package in Xenial:
  Invalid
Status in linux source package in Xenial:
  Fix Released
Status in intel-microcode source package in Artful:
  Invalid
Status in linux source package in Artful:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  [Impact]

   * Some systems experience kernel lockups after updating to the latest intel-microcode
     package or when receiving updated microcode from a BIOS update.

   * In many cases, the lockups occur before users can reach the login screen which makes
     it very difficult to debug/workaround.

  [Test Case]

   * The most reliable test case currently known is to install the sssd package. Lockups
     may occur during package installation (disable IBPB by writing 0 to
     /proc/sys/kernel/ibpb_enabled to prevent this from happening). A lockup will most
     likely occur just after booting the system up as the lock screen is displayed.

  [Regression Potential]

   * The fix is in the task switching code of the kernel so complexity of the change is
     relatively high.

  [Original Report]

  I don't know if this is a problem with the kernel or the microcode,
  but we have a significant number of computers in our organization (on
  both 16.04 and 17.10) that fail if they have both updated.  Booting
  with either linux-image-4.13.0-36-generic or intel-microcode
  3.20180108.0+really20170707ubuntu17.10.1 allows all these computers to
  boot.

  ## Workaround ##
  1. Boot the system with the dis_ucode_ldr kernel boot parameter to temporary avoid the problem:
     https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/KernelBootParameters
  2. Install the previous version of package from
     https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-security-proposed/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+build/14261530/+files/intel-microcode_3.20180108.0+really20170707ubuntu16.04.1_amd64.deb
  3. (Optional) Hold the package so that it won't be upgraded accidentally
     sudo apt-mark hold intel-microcode

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