Chip maker Intel Corp has issued an advisory to all categories of the users of their processors, to stop using two patches that are meant to address issues of vulnerability in the Intel chipsets. Users, including computer manufacturers and cloud services providers, apart from the run of the mill users of systems fitted with Intel chips. All have been told not to install the patches as they may be faulty and their engineers are working on the original issues raised and will be out with the solutions soon.
According to the company statement, the patches tend to lead to “unpredictable” behaviour of the systems and frequent reboot situations. The statement has been posted on Intel’s website. Apologising for the inconvenience, the statement assures the customers that they will come out with the fix soon.
It has to be clarified that the original complaint on the patches was that the systems were being slowed down and this issue is different from the problems now pointed out in the patches and being addressed. Intel has stated that the users in the home and business PC segments should not be experiencing the slowdown. Some analysts have gone on to suggest that many buyers, particularly in the business segment, may postpone their computer buying decisions till the matter is settled.
Intel has indeed come up with a fresh new patch on January 20, which it says should be tried by the customers and based on the feedback, the company may take the next steps.
It was in the first week of January that Intel first acknowledged that there were two distinct vulnerabilities detected in its chips; these were named Spectre and Meltdown. Both lead to data sitting on the affected systems and exposing them to espionage. While both of them have been found to be affecting all makes of chipsets, there is a difference. Spectre does not distinguish between chipsets, whether it is Intel or AMD, or ARM. Meltdown, on the other hand, seems to be affecting only Intel and ARM, a company backed by the SoftBank Group.
All eyes are now on Intel to come up with the right patches.