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Meltdown Update Kernel doesnt boot

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Re: Meltdown Update Kernel doesnt boot

#61
(Copying my instructions from another post).

If kernel 4.4 doesn't work, I recommend compiling the 4.15 kernel. (Note, however, that you may need to apply a patch to NVIDIA drivers).

I've done this on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, 17.10, and Debian 8 so far this week. To compile, set CONFIG_PAGE_TABLE_ISOLATION=y. That is:

    sudo apt-get build-dep linux
    sudo apt-get install gcc-6-plugin-dev libelf-dev libncurses5-dev
    cd /usr/src
    wget https://git.kernel.org/torvalds/t/linux-4.15-rc7.tar.gz
    tar -xvf linux-4.15-rc7.tar.gz
    cd linux-4.15-rc7
    cp /boot/config-`uname -r` .config
    make CONFIG_PAGE_TABLE_ISOLATION=y deb-pkg

Re: Meltdown Update Kernel doesnt boot

#63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait if a court forces Intel to replace processors with a safe one does that mean I get new macbook?

I can't imagine a court doing anything. The cost to intel is simply to high, and its not like they were negligent given that ARM/POWER/etc are all vulnerable to some extent too. This whole thing is the equivalent of discovering that if someone throws enough nails on the road your car will blow a tire, spin out of control and kill you. With the kneejerk reaction of trying to fill everyone's tires with concrete to avoi…

Actually, it is more like that someone can throw a rock through a car window and then compromise the car door lock. Or, probably more accurately, that a hitchhiker can knock you out of the car, and drive off with it.

Spectre/Meltdown ONLY is an issue if you run some untrusted code on your system. If you avoid this, there is not problem. Yes, we like to be able to run untrusted code (such as in a web browser / javascript), but that is not the fault of a car manufacturer that you like to pick up hitchhikers.

Re: Meltdown Update Kernel doesnt boot

#64

I was under the impression that Ubuntu would automatically revert to last good kernel of the new one fails to boot. Was I mistaken?

AFAIK worse case you should be able to select the previous kernel in grub2 upon reboot. It just hangs after grub on this (bad) kernel I think...

Re: Meltdown Update Kernel doesnt boot

#66
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They really should. The problem is this nearly every single processor Intel shipped for a decade so Intel doesn't have the cash flow to RMA that many replacements. They're going to fight tooth and nail to avoid this.

In reality they could probably argue standard depreciation on a product and offer the remaining value as a discount towards a working product... only there currently aren't any equivalent products on the market. AMD's CPUs are still affected by lower profile variants of this, but aren't as /horridly/ broken.

    In reality they could probably argue standard
    depreciation on a product and offer the remaining
    value as a discount towards a working product...
This could work for older models, but their flagship $15,000+ each (in bulk trays) are also affected. So its hard to argue depreciation on <2 month old silicon.

Re: Meltdown Update Kernel doesnt boot

#67
post #47
post #20

Would this entire Meltdown/Spectre thing count as the biggest mess-up of computing history? When yesterday the PoC repo was posted here, the spy.mp4 demo video gave me some chills. And now I can't update my OS before making an installation USB because Canonical can't just follow Linus' releases. Thanks.

>Would this entire Meltdown/Spectre thing count as the biggest mess-up of computing history? When yesterday the PoC repo was posted here, the spy.mp4 demo video gave me some chills. It must be up there amongst the greats, probably with the "halt and catch fire" op code. Normally they just patch this stuff with microcode and never really tell anybody, this time that won't work. I'm not entirely convinced it was a mist…

I think it's absolutely unreasonable to imply that this was intentional. Besides the massive amount of complexity these systems have, there are plenty of "legitimate" places to hide backdoors, instead of in a performance architecture decision.

Keep in mind that whatever "evil agencies" would have asked for this would most likely find themselves vulnerable, and nobody would sign off on.

I do agree, however, the "security by obscurity approach is quite frankly crap". The fact that even large corporations (not the big 5) can't even get away from ME speaks volumes about why this is a bad idea. Facebook isn't the only company with important data.

Re: Meltdown Update Kernel doesnt boot

#68
post #43
post #41

I just updated my Dell, but haven't restarted. Do we know how widespread the problem is and should I roll back the update?

I would suspend your machine until we find out more, I have the same problem.

For me the 108 kernel boots fine, but breaks suspend. :D

Re: Meltdown Update Kernel doesnt boot

#69
post #47
post #20

Would this entire Meltdown/Spectre thing count as the biggest mess-up of computing history? When yesterday the PoC repo was posted here, the spy.mp4 demo video gave me some chills. And now I can't update my OS before making an installation USB because Canonical can't just follow Linus' releases. Thanks.

>Would this entire Meltdown/Spectre thing count as the biggest mess-up of computing history? When yesterday the PoC repo was posted here, the spy.mp4 demo video gave me some chills. It must be up there amongst the greats, probably with the "halt and catch fire" op code. Normally they just patch this stuff with microcode and never really tell anybody, this time that won't work. I'm not entirely convinced it was a mist…

Yeah ME is a scary thing also. WRT Linux, well my Xubuntu 16.04 (Xenial) is on 4.10 and no new kernels are available to ma ATM. So if they're going to patch my OS, that's probably going to be a backport to that version, not the latest release integrated to my OS version. I guess that's what caused this bug too, although I admit I only skimmed the conversation linked.
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