Hi all,
Inquisitive as I am…I found a spectre-and-meltdown-checker on my system. It…popped up in pamac aside the update.
So, naturally, I went investigating.
Any readups I can learn more form?
Thanks
Melissa
Thanks, so it is something “known” then. And…only Intels have this problem…
And…would’nt ya know…I have one… 
Maybe let this thing sit on my drive,then 
You do as you want if you want to use this script or not is up to you. If you don’t use it, it will effectively sit on your drive.
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Well, I’m perhaps more inquisitive than you are : I runned it !
Numerous issues that appear to be hanndled on my PC.
$ sudo spectre-meltdown-checker
Spectre and Meltdown mitigation detection tool v0.44
Checking for vulnerabilities on current system
Kernel is Linux 5.11.6-1-MANJARO #1 SMP PREEMPT Thu Mar 11 19:05:51 UTC 2021 x86_64
CPU is Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2350M CPU @ 2.30GHz
Hardware check
* Hardware support (CPU microcode) for mitigation techniques
* Indirect Branch Restricted Speculation (IBRS)
* SPEC_CTRL MSR is available: YES
* CPU indicates IBRS capability: YES (SPEC_CTRL feature bit)
* Indirect Branch Prediction Barrier (IBPB)
* PRED_CMD MSR is available: YES
* CPU indicates IBPB capability: YES (SPEC_CTRL feature bit)
* Single Thread Indirect Branch Predictors (STIBP)
* SPEC_CTRL MSR is available: YES
* CPU indicates STIBP capability: YES (Intel STIBP feature bit)
* Speculative Store Bypass Disable (SSBD)
* CPU indicates SSBD capability: YES (Intel SSBD)
* L1 data cache invalidation
* FLUSH_CMD MSR is available: YES
* CPU indicates L1D flush capability: YES (L1D flush feature bit)
* Microarchitectural Data Sampling
* VERW instruction is available: YES (MD_CLEAR feature bit)
* Enhanced IBRS (IBRS_ALL)
* CPU indicates ARCH_CAPABILITIES MSR availability: NO
* ARCH_CAPABILITIES MSR advertises IBRS_ALL capability: NO
* CPU explicitly indicates not being vulnerable to Meltdown/L1TF (RDCL_NO): NO
* CPU explicitly indicates not being vulnerable to Variant 4 (SSB_NO): NO
* CPU/Hypervisor indicates L1D flushing is not necessary on this system: NO
* Hypervisor indicates host CPU might be vulnerable to RSB underflow (RSBA): NO
* CPU explicitly indicates not being vulnerable to Microarchitectural Data Sampling (MDS_NO): NO
* CPU explicitly indicates not being vulnerable to TSX Asynchronous Abort (TAA_NO): NO
* CPU explicitly indicates not being vulnerable to iTLB Multihit (PSCHANGE_MSC_NO): NO
* CPU explicitly indicates having MSR for TSX control (TSX_CTRL_MSR): NO
* CPU supports Transactional Synchronization Extensions (TSX): NO
* CPU supports Software Guard Extensions (SGX): NO
* CPU supports Special Register Buffer Data Sampling (SRBDS): NO
* CPU microcode is known to cause stability problems: NO (family 0x6 model 0x2a stepping 0x7 ucode 0x2f cpuid 0x206a7)
* CPU microcode is the latest known available version: YES (latest version is 0x2f dated 2019/02/17 according to builtin firmwares DB v165.20201021+i20200616)
* CPU vulnerability to the speculative execution attack variants
* Vulnerable to CVE-2017-5753 (Spectre Variant 1, bounds check bypass): YES
* Vulnerable to CVE-2017-5715 (Spectre Variant 2, branch target injection): YES
* Vulnerable to CVE-2017-5754 (Variant 3, Meltdown, rogue data cache load): YES
* Vulnerable to CVE-2018-3640 (Variant 3a, rogue system register read): YES
* Vulnerable to CVE-2018-3639 (Variant 4, speculative store bypass): YES
* Vulnerable to CVE-2018-3615 (Foreshadow (SGX), L1 terminal fault): NO
* Vulnerable to CVE-2018-3620 (Foreshadow-NG (OS), L1 terminal fault): YES
* Vulnerable to CVE-2018-3646 (Foreshadow-NG (VMM), L1 terminal fault): YES
* Vulnerable to CVE-2018-12126 (Fallout, microarchitectural store buffer data sampling (MSBDS)): YES
* Vulnerable to CVE-2018-12130 (ZombieLoad, microarchitectural fill buffer data sampling (MFBDS)): YES
* Vulnerable to CVE-2018-12127 (RIDL, microarchitectural load port data sampling (MLPDS)): YES
* Vulnerable to CVE-2019-11091 (RIDL, microarchitectural data sampling uncacheable memory (MDSUM)): YES
* Vulnerable to CVE-2019-11135 (ZombieLoad V2, TSX Asynchronous Abort (TAA)): NO
* Vulnerable to CVE-2018-12207 (No eXcuses, iTLB Multihit, machine check exception on page size changes (MCEPSC)): YES
* Vulnerable to CVE-2020-0543 (Special Register Buffer Data Sampling (SRBDS)): NO
CVE-2017-5753 aka 'Spectre Variant 1, bounds check bypass'
* Mitigated according to the /sys interface: YES (Mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization)
* Kernel has array_index_mask_nospec: YES (1 occurrence(s) found of x86 64 bits array_index_mask_nospec())
* Kernel has the Red Hat/Ubuntu patch: NO
* Kernel has mask_nospec64 (arm64): NO
* Kernel has array_index_nospec (arm64): NO
> STATUS: NOT VULNERABLE (Mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization)
CVE-2017-5715 aka 'Spectre Variant 2, branch target injection'
* Mitigated according to the /sys interface: YES (Mitigation: Full generic retpoline, IBPB: conditional, IBRS_FW, STIBP: conditional, RSB filling)
* Mitigation 1
* Kernel is compiled with IBRS support: YES
* IBRS enabled and active: YES (for firmware code only)
* Kernel is compiled with IBPB support: YES
* IBPB enabled and active: YES
* Mitigation 2
* Kernel has branch predictor hardening (arm): NO
* Kernel compiled with retpoline option: YES
* Kernel compiled with a retpoline-aware compiler: YES (kernel reports full retpoline compilation)
> STATUS: NOT VULNERABLE (Full retpoline + IBPB are mitigating the vulnerability)
CVE-2017-5754 aka 'Variant 3, Meltdown, rogue data cache load'
* Mitigated according to the /sys interface: YES (Mitigation: PTI)
* Kernel supports Page Table Isolation (PTI): YES
* PTI enabled and active: YES
* Reduced performance impact of PTI: YES (CPU supports PCID, performance impact of PTI will be reduced)
* Running as a Xen PV DomU: NO
> STATUS: NOT VULNERABLE (Mitigation: PTI)
CVE-2018-3640 aka 'Variant 3a, rogue system register read'
* CPU microcode mitigates the vulnerability: YES
> STATUS: NOT VULNERABLE (your CPU microcode mitigates the vulnerability)
CVE-2018-3639 aka 'Variant 4, speculative store bypass'
* Mitigated according to the /sys interface: YES (Mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp)
* Kernel supports disabling speculative store bypass (SSB): YES (found in /proc/self/status)
* SSB mitigation is enabled and active: YES (per-thread through prctl)
* SSB mitigation currently active for selected processes: YES (bwrap firefox haveged ModemManager pipewire pipewire-media-session pipewire-pulse python3.9 systemd-journald systemd-logind udevadm upowerd)
> STATUS: NOT VULNERABLE (Mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp)
CVE-2018-3615 aka 'Foreshadow (SGX), L1 terminal fault'
* CPU microcode mitigates the vulnerability: N/A
> STATUS: NOT VULNERABLE (your CPU vendor reported your CPU model as not vulnerable)
CVE-2018-3620 aka 'Foreshadow-NG (OS), L1 terminal fault'
* Mitigated according to the /sys interface: YES (Mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT vulnerable)
* Kernel supports PTE inversion: YES (found in kernel image)
* PTE inversion enabled and active: YES
> STATUS: NOT VULNERABLE (Mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT vulnerable)
CVE-2018-3646 aka 'Foreshadow-NG (VMM), L1 terminal fault'
* Information from the /sys interface: Mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT vulnerable
* This system is a host running a hypervisor: NO
* Mitigation 1 (KVM)
* EPT is disabled: NO
* Mitigation 2
* L1D flush is supported by kernel: YES (found flush_l1d in /proc/cpuinfo)
* L1D flush enabled: YES (conditional flushes)
* Hardware-backed L1D flush supported: YES (performance impact of the mitigation will be greatly reduced)
* Hyper-Threading (SMT) is enabled: YES
> STATUS: NOT VULNERABLE (this system is not running a hypervisor)
CVE-2018-12126 aka 'Fallout, microarchitectural store buffer data sampling (MSBDS)'
* Mitigated according to the /sys interface: YES (Mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable)
* Kernel supports using MD_CLEAR mitigation: YES (md_clear found in /proc/cpuinfo)
* Kernel mitigation is enabled and active: YES
* SMT is either mitigated or disabled: NO
> STATUS: NOT VULNERABLE (Your microcode and kernel are both up to date for this mitigation, and mitigation is enabled)
CVE-2018-12130 aka 'ZombieLoad, microarchitectural fill buffer data sampling (MFBDS)'
* Mitigated according to the /sys interface: YES (Mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable)
* Kernel supports using MD_CLEAR mitigation: YES (md_clear found in /proc/cpuinfo)
* Kernel mitigation is enabled and active: YES
* SMT is either mitigated or disabled: NO
> STATUS: NOT VULNERABLE (Your microcode and kernel are both up to date for this mitigation, and mitigation is enabled)
CVE-2018-12127 aka 'RIDL, microarchitectural load port data sampling (MLPDS)'
* Mitigated according to the /sys interface: YES (Mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable)
* Kernel supports using MD_CLEAR mitigation: YES (md_clear found in /proc/cpuinfo)
* Kernel mitigation is enabled and active: YES
* SMT is either mitigated or disabled: NO
> STATUS: NOT VULNERABLE (Your microcode and kernel are both up to date for this mitigation, and mitigation is enabled)
CVE-2019-11091 aka 'RIDL, microarchitectural data sampling uncacheable memory (MDSUM)'
* Mitigated according to the /sys interface: YES (Mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable)
* Kernel supports using MD_CLEAR mitigation: YES (md_clear found in /proc/cpuinfo)
* Kernel mitigation is enabled and active: YES
* SMT is either mitigated or disabled: NO
> STATUS: NOT VULNERABLE (Your microcode and kernel are both up to date for this mitigation, and mitigation is enabled)
CVE-2019-11135 aka 'ZombieLoad V2, TSX Asynchronous Abort (TAA)'
* Mitigated according to the /sys interface: YES (Not affected)
* TAA mitigation is supported by kernel: YES (found tsx_async_abort in kernel image)
* TAA mitigation enabled and active: NO
> STATUS: NOT VULNERABLE (your CPU vendor reported your CPU model as not vulnerable)
CVE-2018-12207 aka 'No eXcuses, iTLB Multihit, machine check exception on page size changes (MCEPSC)'
* Mitigated according to the /sys interface: YES (KVM: Mitigation: VMX disabled)
* This system is a host running a hypervisor: NO
* iTLB Multihit mitigation is supported by kernel: YES (found itlb_multihit in kernel image)
* iTLB Multihit mitigation enabled and active: YES (KVM: Mitigation: VMX disabled)
> STATUS: NOT VULNERABLE (this system is not running a hypervisor)
CVE-2020-0543 aka 'Special Register Buffer Data Sampling (SRBDS)'
* Mitigated according to the /sys interface: YES (Not affected)
* SRBDS mitigation control is supported by the kernel: YES (found SRBDS implementation evidence in kernel image. Your kernel is up to date for SRBDS mitigation)
* SRBDS mitigation control is enabled and active: NO
> STATUS: NOT VULNERABLE (your CPU vendor reported your CPU model as not vulnerable)
> SUMMARY: CVE-2017-5753:OK CVE-2017-5715:OK CVE-2017-5754:OK CVE-2018-3640:OK CVE-2018-3639:OK CVE-2018-3615:OK CVE-2018-3620:OK CVE-2018-3646:OK CVE-2018-12126:OK CVE-2018-12130:OK CVE-2018-12127:OK CVE-2019-11091:OK CVE-2019-11135:OK CVE-2018-12207:OK CVE-2020-0543:OK
Need more detailed information about mitigation options? Use --explain
A false sense of security is worse than no security at all, see --disclaimer
So…what to be done when you are vulnerable?
I dont get it, is that an external control issue? A virus? A rootkit?
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Personally, I’m not concerned. If you’re a user willing to learn (like me) and not an expert on the matter, all you can do is keep your system up-to-date, don’t install any new software/code that hasn’t been tested/approved/is closed-sourced, use your common sense as much as possible.
If you’re using a computer/interface that’s connected to the outside world (www) you’re vulnerable. It’s like a house that has windows (no pun intended) - so about 99% of all houses, someone could break the glass and steal you’re things (especially when nobody’s home). It takes a pretty dim view of the majority of your fellow beings in order to build a castle out of steal… EDIT … that’s no fun to live in… 
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just before i moved to Linux,a bios update was pushed by Asus that is supposed to mitigate this vulnerability.(or some of it,since they’re finding more each time).
i didn’t deeply investigate it,but as i can recall it can only be patched through a firmware update
and also, it’s not an easy vulnerability to exploit.
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Ah! What a de-paranoidizing thing to mention!
Thank you for that…
I’m beginning to suspect everything now…like everything being spyware of at lease facebookware…
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You have much more risk from relatives or family (for instance, the friend who spills his cofee mug on your laptop) than from Spectre of Meltdown, especially on a GNU/Linux computer.
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