[5509] in bugtraq
Re: Intel Pentium Bug
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Kragen \"Skewed\" Sitaker)
Fri Nov 7 21:53:50 1997
Date: Fri, 7 Nov 1997 19:35:48 -0500
Reply-To: "Kragen \"Skewed\" Sitaker" <kragen@DNACO.NET>
From: "Kragen \"Skewed\" Sitaker" <kragen@DNACO.NET>
X-To: George Imburgia <gti@HOPI.DTCC.EDU>
To: BUGTRAQ@NETSPACE.ORG
In-Reply-To: <Pine.D-G.3.96.971107144201.10825F-100000@zuni.dtcc.edu>
On Fri, 7 Nov 1997, George Imburgia wrote:
> This isn't something you can fix at the OS level, it seems to be a
> microcode bug.
>
> Intel recently acknowledged that they enabled the ability to update
> microcode on Pentium chips several years ago. That's right folks, they put
> a backdoor in your hardware. The good news is, it could be used to fix
> this bug, should Intel be so inclined.
>
> AMD's microcode is updateable too. No clue about cyrix.
If Intel releases code to update the microcode, someone else will figure
out how to do it, too. That means we can look forward to a future of
microcode back-doors and viruses. (How big is the microcode on a Pentium,
I wonder?)
Kragen
