Is Ubuntu Linux protected against the Meltdown and Spectre security flaws?

[Bret Busby]

On 19/02/2018, Colin Watson <cjwatson at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 19, 2018 at 08:11:05PM +0800, Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming
> wrote:
>> What are the patches that I can download and install to be protected
>> against the Meltdown and Spectre security vulnerabilities?
>
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SecurityTeam/KnowledgeBase/SpectreAndMeltdown
> has details on this.
>
> --
> Colin Watson                                       [cjwatson at ubuntu.com]
>
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>From the wording on that web page, relating to the updates released on
21 February, is it correct that the problem of the three (S1, S2 and
Meltdown) problems are now fixed, and that the threat is now overcome?

I had the impression that one or more of the three problems required
new CPU hardware microcode, to fix the problem, and that, apart from
keeping the operating system updated, as security updates became
available, we need to wait for a new generation of CPU's - at least
six months in the future, to get the three problems fixed beyond
mitigations (as partial fixes) as they become available.

Could this understanding be comfirmed or refuted?

Thank you in anticipation.


-- 
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
 you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
 Chapter 28 of Book 1 of
 "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
 A Trilogy In Four Parts",
 written by Douglas Adams,
 published by Pan Books, 1992

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