[Bug 1700373] Re: intel-microcode is out of date, version 20170707 fixes errata on 6th and 7th generation platforms

Mon Jul 24 19:36:06 UTC 2017

The changelog entry is there to match the artful changelog entry *(it
applies completely correctly for zesty).

As for the dat files. I guess my changelog entry would have been more
explicit had I said sync instead of backport.

" * Backport of new upstream microcode release to address Hyper Threading
    bug.  This is mostly a sync of the dat files from debian version
    3.20170707.1 (LP: #1700373) "

It should be noted that these dat files are never exposed via the bin
package to the user.

As for the rest of the changelog entry, I thought about not including the debian changelog entry in the x upload, but I like to error on the side of more information, and this vvvvvv part of the changelog entry matches identically to zesty and artful.
"  * New upstream microcode datafile 20170707
    + New Microcodes:
      sig 0x00050654, pf_mask 0x97, 2017-06-01, rev 0x2000022, size 25600
      sig 0x000806e9, pf_mask 0xc0, 2017-04-27, rev 0x0062, size 97280
      sig 0x000806ea, pf_mask 0xc0, 2017-05-23, rev 0x0066, size 95232
      sig 0x000906e9, pf_mask 0x2a, 2017-04-06, rev 0x005e, size 97280
    + This release fixes the nightmare-level errata SKZ7/SKW144/SKL150/
      SKX150 (Skylake) KBL095/KBW095 (Kaby Lake) for all affected Kaby
      Lake and Skylake processors: Skylake D0/R0 were fixed since the
      previous upstream release (20170511).  This new release adds the
      fixes for Kaby Lake Y0/B0/H0 and Skylake H0 (Skylake-E/X).
    + Fix undisclosed errata in Skylake H0 (0x50654), Kaby Lake Y0
      (0x806ea), Kaby Lake H0 (0x806e9), Kaby Lake B0 (0x906e9)
  * source: remove unneeded intel-ucode/ directory
  * source: remove superseded upstream data file: 20170511
"

If you deem it crucially important, we could change that last line to
" * source: synced data files with debian version 20170707.1
"

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1700373

Title:
  intel-microcode is out of date, version 20170707 fixes errata on 6th
  and 7th generation platforms

Status in intel-microcode package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in intel-microcode source package in Trusty:
  Won't Fix
Status in intel-microcode source package in Xenial:
  Confirmed
Status in intel-microcode source package in Yakkety:
  Confirmed
Status in intel-microcode source package in Zesty:
  Confirmed
Status in intel-microcode source package in Artful:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  [Impact]

  * A security fix has been made available as part of intel-microcode
  * It is advisable to apply it
  * Thus an SRU of the latest intel-microcode is desirable for all stable releases

  [Test Case]

  * Upgrade intel-microcode package, if it is already installed / one is
  running on Intel CPUs

  * Reboot and verify no averse results, and/or that microcode for your
  cpu was loaded as expected.

  [Test case reporting]
  * Please paste the output of:

  dpkg-query -W intel-microcode
  grep -E 'model|stepping' /proc/cpuinfo | sort -u
  journalctl -k | grep microcode

  [Regression Potential]
  Microcode are proprietary blobs, and can cause any number of new errors and regressions. Microcode bugs have been reported before, therefore longer than usual phasing and monitoring of intel-microcode bugs should be done with extra care.

  [Other]
  caml discussion describing test case to reproduce the crash.
  https://caml.inria.fr/mantis/view.php?id=7452

  * I did not backport the full debian/changelog, as some of the changes
  were ommitted for SRU purposes, and I don't like the idea of modifying
  the changelog of others.

  * I did not backport this below change but I feel as though the SRU team should evaluate including it.  I left it out due to the change as little as possible guidance from the SRU team.  Additionally we have already been shipping the microcode version that included this change for a long time. More information here
  https://security-center.intel.com/advisory.aspx?intelid=INTEL-SA-00030&languageid=en-fr

  '''
  # 0x206c2: Intel Westmere B1 (Xeon 3600, 5600, Core i7 2nd gen).
  #
  # When Intel released a fix for Intel SA-00030, they issued a MCU that
  # bumps the minimum acceptable version of the Intel TXT ACMs in the
  # TPM persistent storage.  This permanently blacklists the vulnerable
  # ACMs *even on older microcode* in order to make it somewhat harder
  # to work around the security fix through a BIOS downgrade attack.
  #
  # It is possible that such a microcode update, when peformed by the
  # operating system, could sucessfully trigger the TPM persistent
  # storage update Intel intended to happen during firmware boot: we
  # simply don't know enough to rule it out.  Should that happen, Intel
  # TXT will be permanently disabled.  This could easily interact very
  # badly with the firmware, rendering the system unbootable.  If *that*
  # happens, it would likely require either a TPM module replacement
  # (rendering sealed data useless) or a direct flash of a new BIOS with
  # updated ACMs, to repair.
  #
  # Blacklist updates for signature 0x206c2 as a safety net.
  IUC_EXCLUDE += -s !0x206c2
  '''

  * I versioned the packages 3.20170511.1~ubuntu<release> as I feel this
  more appropriately reflects the contents of each package rather than
  simply incrementing the ubuntu version number.

  =========================================================================

  [Original bug report]

  NB: I am *not* directly affected by this bug.

  Henrique emailed a warning to Debian devel today [1] on a potentially
  serious issue with (sky|kaby)lake processors. Excerpt:

  "This warning advisory is relevant for users of systems with the Intel
  processors code-named "Skylake" and "Kaby Lake".  These are: the 6th and
  7th generation Intel Core processors (desktop, embedded, mobile and
  HEDT), their related server processors (such as Xeon v5 and Xeon v6), as
  well as select Intel Pentium processor models.

  TL;DR: unfixed Skylake and Kaby Lake processors could, in some
  situations, dangerously misbehave when hyper-threading is enabled.
  Disable hyper-threading immediately in BIOS/UEFI to work around the
  problem.  Read this advisory for instructions about an Intel-provided
  fix."

  It is probably a good idea to:
  (1) issue a warning to our users about this;
  (2) update intel-microcode on all our supported releases

  I leave the discussion on whether this can have security implications
  to others.

  [1] https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2017/06/msg00308.html

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 17.04
  Package: intel-microcode 3.20161104.1
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.10.0-24.28-generic 4.10.15
  Uname: Linux 4.10.0-24-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.20.4-0ubuntu4.1
  Architecture: amd64
  CurrentDesktop: Unity:Unity7
  Date: Sun Jun 25 10:14:19 2017
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-05-26 (30 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 17.04 "Zesty Zapus" - Release amd64 (20170412)
  SourcePackage: intel-microcode
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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