[Bug 1759920] Re: intel-microcode 3.20180312.0 causes lockup at login screen(w/ linux-image-4.13.0-37-generic)

[Diego Remolina]

dijuremo at localhost:~$ cat /proc/version_signature
Ubuntu 4.13.0-38.43+lp1759920.1-generic 4.13.16
dijuremo at localhost:~$ cat /proc/cmdline
BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-4.13.0-38-generic root=/dev/mapper/aevg-root ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
dijuremo at localhost:~$ dmesg -t | grep -i microcode
microcode: sig=0x306e4, pf=0x1, revision=0x42c
microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.2.

Also ran:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/speed47/spectre-meltdown-checker/master/spectre-meltdown-checker.sh

Spectre and Meltdown mitigation detection tool v0.36+

Checking for vulnerabilities on current system
Kernel is Linux 4.13.0-38-generic #43+lp1759920.1 SMP Tue Apr 3 22:59:23 UTC 2018 x86_64
CPU is Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-1650 v2 @ 3.50GHz

Hardware check
* Hardware support (CPU microcode) for mitigation techniques
  * Indirect Branch Restricted Speculation (IBRS)
    * SPEC_CTRL MSR is available:  YES 
    * CPU indicates IBRS capability:  YES  (SPEC_CTRL feature bit)
  * Indirect Branch Prediction Barrier (IBPB)
    * PRED_CMD MSR is available:  YES 
    * CPU indicates IBPB capability:  YES  (SPEC_CTRL feature bit)
  * Single Thread Indirect Branch Predictors (STIBP)
    * SPEC_CTRL MSR is available:  YES 
    * CPU indicates STIBP capability:  YES 
  * Enhanced IBRS (IBRS_ALL)
    * CPU indicates ARCH_CAPABILITIES MSR availability:  NO 
    * ARCH_CAPABILITIES MSR advertises IBRS_ALL capability:  NO 
  * CPU explicitly indicates not being vulnerable to Meltdown (RDCL_NO):  NO 
  * CPU microcode is known to cause stability problems:  NO  (model 62 stepping 4 ucode 0x42c)
* CPU vulnerability to the three speculative execution attack variants
  * Vulnerable to Variant 1:  YES 
  * Vulnerable to Variant 2:  YES 
  * Vulnerable to Variant 3:  YES 

CVE-2017-5753 [bounds check bypass] aka 'Spectre Variant 1'
* Mitigated according to the /sys interface:  YES  (kernel confirms that the mitigation is active)
* Kernel has array_index_mask_nospec (x86):  NO 
* Kernel has the Red Hat/Ubuntu patch:  YES 
* Kernel has mask_nospec64 (arm):  NO 
> STATUS:  NOT VULNERABLE  (Mitigation: OSB (observable speculation barrier, Intel v6))

CVE-2017-5715 [branch target injection] aka 'Spectre Variant 2'
* Mitigated according to the /sys interface:  YES  (kernel confirms that the mitigation is active)
* Mitigation 1
  * Kernel is compiled with IBRS/IBPB support:  YES 
  * Currently enabled features
    * IBRS enabled for Kernel space:  NO 
    * IBRS enabled for User space:  NO 
    * IBPB enabled:  YES 
* Mitigation 2
  * Kernel has branch predictor hardening (arm):  NO 
  * Kernel compiled with retpoline option:  YES 
  * Kernel compiled with a retpoline-aware compiler:  YES  (kernel reports full retpoline compilation)
> STATUS:  NOT VULNERABLE  (Mitigation: Full generic retpoline, IBPB (Intel v4))

CVE-2017-5754 [rogue data cache load] aka 'Meltdown' aka 'Variant 3'
* Mitigated according to the /sys interface:  YES  (kernel confirms that the mitigation is active)
* Kernel supports Page Table Isolation (PTI):  YES  (found 'CONFIG_PAGE_TABLE_ISOLATION=y')
* PTI enabled and active:  YES 
* Running as a Xen PV DomU:  NO 
> STATUS:  NOT VULNERABLE  (Mitigation: PTI)

A false sense of security is worse than no security at all, see
--disclaimer


** CVE added: https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=2017-5753

** CVE added: https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=2017-5754

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1759920

Title:
  intel-microcode 3.20180312.0 causes lockup at login screen(w/ linux-
  image-4.13.0-37-generic)

Status in intel-microcode package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed
Status in linux package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed
Status in intel-microcode source package in Xenial:
  Confirmed
Status in linux source package in Xenial:
  Confirmed
Status in intel-microcode source package in Artful:
  Confirmed
Status in linux source package in Artful:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  I don't know if this is a problem with the kernel or the microcode,
  but we have a significant number of computers in our organization (on
  both 16.04 and 17.10) that fail if they have both updated.  Booting
  with either linux-image-4.13.0-36-generic or intel-microcode
  3.20180108.0+really20170707ubuntu17.10.1 allows all these computers to
  boot.

  ## Workaround ##
  1. Boot the system with the dis_ucode_ldr kernel boot parameter to temporary avoid the problem:
     https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/KernelBootParameters
  2. Install the previous version of package from
     https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-security-proposed/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+build/14261530/+files/intel-microcode_3.20180108.0+really20170707ubuntu16.04.1_amd64.deb
  3. (Optional) Hold the package so that it won't be upgraded accidentally
     sudo apt-mark hold intel-microcode

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