Trixology

General Category => General Computing/Macintosh => Topic started by: Blicj11 on January 03, 2018, 09:55:28 PM

Title: Intel Kernel Bug
Post by: Blicj11 on January 03, 2018, 09:55:28 PM

We've suspected memory leak for a while now and Intel has now confirmed.

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3245606/security/intel-x86-cpu-kernel-bug-faq-how-it-affects-pc-mac.html

Title: Not sure this is the same leak - but interesting (Re: Intel Kernel Bug)
Post by: elagache on January 03, 2018, 11:39:23 PM

Dear Blick and WeatherCat sys-admins,

Quote from: Blicj11 on January 03, 2018, 09:55:28 PM

We've suspected memory leak for a while now and Intel has now confirmed.

Thanks for sharing this piece.  I'm not sure if this kernel in question is inside the CPU or is using your Mac's general memory.  Normally, as the article describes, the kernel that is using your Mac's memory is purely software.  However, things have changed so much since I was working with these things I could be wrong.  If I had to make a guess, there is more than one source for the memory issues.  Clearly, macOS has an extremely dubious caching strategy.  After rebooting I can reclaim almost 1 GB of RAM by purging caches that after all - shouldn't have anything in them - yet!

Oh well, . . . . . Edouard  :o

Title: Re: Intel Kernel Bug
Post by: Blicj11 on January 05, 2018, 08:46:19 PM

Official response from Apple: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208394

Title: Thanks for posting. (Re: Intel Kernel Bug)
Post by: elagache on January 06, 2018, 12:44:50 AM

Dear Blick and WeatherCat Apple faithful,

Quote from: Blicj11 on January 05, 2018, 08:46:19 PM

Official response from Apple: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208394

Thanks for posting this.  Alas, I can tell how much my confidence in Apple has diminished because even if it sounds very plain, honest, and reassuring, it fails reassure me in the manner Apple intended.

I sure have come a long way from my dogged defense of Apple during the dark times of its history.

Oh well, . . . . . Edouard

Title: Re: Intel Kernel Bug
Post by: Steve on January 06, 2018, 04:11:21 PM

Reading this confuses my head. Would this have anything to do with the rash of kernel panic crashes I've had over the past three days? I've ben trying to sort if it is a hardware or software problem by unplugging and uninstalling, but it might not be something I did if this is the culprit.

Title: Re: Intel Kernel Bug
Post by: Blicj11 on January 06, 2018, 06:36:13 PM

Steve:

Sorry to hear your kernels are panicking. You've probably seen this Apple post, but just in case you haven't, take a look. It is dated Nov 2017, although it is clearly an update of an older post because it refers to Mavericks and OS X. It still outlines how you track down the issue. I seriously doubt your new machine has been hacked through this newly announced Intel security hole.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT200553 

Title: Re: Intel Kernel Bug
Post by: Blicj11 on January 06, 2018, 08:39:33 PM

Here is an update from ARS Technica that is not as techy (by ~10%) as their first article. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/01/meltdown-and-spectre-heres-what-intel-apple-microsoft-others-are-doing-about-it/

Title: Re: Intel Kernel Bug
Post by: xairbusdriver on January 12, 2018, 02:45:59 PM

Quote

iOS 11.2.2
Released January 8, 2018
Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation
Description: iOS 11.2.2 includes security improvements to Safari and WebKit to mitigate the effects of Spectre (CVE-2017-5753 and CVE-2017-5715).

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208401 (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208401)

Note that this update only "mitigates the effects of Spectre [emphasis added]".

Another sources remarks (https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2018/01/09/apple-issues-spectre-fix-with-ios-11-2-2-update/), once again, pointing out the problems of allowing javascript to run on your hardware. "...The two Spectre vulnerabilities can be triggered via Javascript running in a web browser..." [rolleyes2]