#NixOS is interesting. Pretty reliable (not as much as #AtomicDesktops in my noob tests) while also performant
Note that such old hardware will have #microcode vulnerabilities and locking it down will further slow it down. At least thinking of #spectre or #meltdown (not sure if hyperthreading was even thought of back then)
Extensive Analysis of the Raptor Lake CPU Bug
Intel’s Raptor Lake CPUs, which form part of the 13th and 14th generation Intel Core desktop processor line, were celebrated for their hybrid architecture combining high-performance cores with efficiency cores. However, shortly after their release, a critical bug emerged that has led to system instability and, in some cases, permanent degradation of the affected chips.
Read More: https://machaddr.substack.com/p/extensive-analysis-of-the-raptor
Zentool – AMD Zen Microcode Manipulation Utility — https://github.com/google/security-research/blob/master/pocs/cpus/entrysign/zentool/README.md
#HackerNews #Zentool #AMD #Zen #Microcode #Manipulation #Utility #security #research #GitHub #tech #news
One of the organisations I work for is so poor, we should not exist by any account.
How poor?
Our main server is fifteen years old.
Only reason we got it, it was abandoned in a rack we bought for $50 and I resurrected it.
This transcends boneyard.
This is summoning machine spirits from beyond, Deus Mechanics incantations.
I yelled at the Operations manager today, calling him a Necromancer because he was praising this ancient "Raid" box as "better than what we used to have" when all I want to do is nail it to the wall as a warning to others.
Anyhoo...
This is how I found today that a 15 year old iron running #Debian 10 simply could not run any #docker images of this particular package because the #nodej component just won't run on the #microcode
I don't even realise it was a thing.
But then, how many of you run a box that's 15 years old in production...
...how "slow" is that rack server?
I pulled one of the Intel NUCs out of the boneyard (it's one of those paper book sized box "computers") and put Debian on THAT...
...it runs 33% faster and that thing was binned because it couldn't pull an office admin desktop workload.
33% faster!!!
https://www.theregister.com/AMP/2025/02/04/google_amd_microcode/
I just bought a new nuc with a ryzen5 cpu. Damn. #AMD #Ryzen #Epyc #microcode
How to make any #AMD Zen #CPU always generate 4 from RDRAND
"We have demonstrated the ability to craft arbitrary malicious microcode patches on Zen 1 through #Zen4 CPUs," the Google #Security Team said.
"The #vulnerability is that the CPU uses an insecure hash function in the signature validation for #microcode updates."
The flaw listed as CVE-2024-56161 with a CVSS score of 7.2 out of 10, was discovered and reported to AMD in September, and a fix was devised by December.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/04/google_amd_microcode/
The domain name is accurate.
Speculative Executation is not your friend.
This Week in Security: ClamAV, The AMD Leak, and The Unencrypted Power Grid - Cisco’s ClamAV has a heap-based buffer overflow in its OLE2 file scanning. That’s ... - https://hackaday.com/2025/01/24/this-week-in-security-clamav-the-amd-leak-and-the-unencrypted-power-grid/ #thisweekinsecurity #hackadaycolumns #securityhacks #pentesting #microcode #clamav #news
Yes. this is a good thing for #ITsec to let end-users know if their system runs #outdated / #vulnerable #Microcode and have #Linux update it.
Consider it a more streamlined "Rescue Linux" which is intended to be #reprpduceable, #auditable and small enough to fit on a #BootROM!
#AMD Posts New #Linux Mitigation Handling Speculative Return Stack Overflow (SRSO, a.k.a. "Inception") #vulnerability mitigation handling for capabilities to be found with affected processors running on newer #CPU #microcode. https://www.phoronix.com/news/AMD-New-SRSO-Inception-Linux
I bought an #Intel cpu affected by the firmware bug that might let you damage the hardware by improper voltage management.
On the website of my Motherboard, it suggests having #microcode 0x129 to "enhance stability". I am on #Linux with no easy way to update the BIOS which would contain this microcode, but according to systemd, I already have it courtesy of #archLinux.
On the Arch and Intel release info to the uCode however, there is no info about this. How can I be sure that this is THE fix?
Instabile CPUs: Intel findet Ursache, kündigt Microcode-Update an #Intel #instabil #Microcode #Update #Fehler #Bug #Spannung # https://winfuture.de/news,144073.html?utm_source=Mastodon&utm_medium=ManualStatus&utm_campaign=SocialMedia
Custom Microcode Compiler, Made in Google Sheets - When homebrewing a CPU, one has to deal with microcode. Microcode is the low-level... - https://hackaday.com/2024/07/07/custom-microcode-compiler-made-in-google-sheets/ #classiccomputing #retrocomputing #softwarehacks #homebrewcpu #microcode #cpu
@TheyCallMeHacked @ariadne well, #canoeboot is a #shitpost by @libreleah so that's acceptable...
Für eine Reihe #Intel-Prozessoren gibt es jetzt überarbeitete #Microcode-Updates. Dabei werden Schwachstellen behoben, die zu Abstürzen führen - und von Angreifern zur Rechteausweitung ausgenutzt werden können. https://winfuture.de/news,139595.html?utm_source=Mastodon&utm_medium=ManualStatus&utm_campaign=SocialMedia
Intel fixes high-severity CPU bug that causes “very strange behavior” - Enlarge
On Tuesday, Intel pushed microcode updates to fix a h... - https://arstechnica.com/?p=1983867 #centralprocessingunits #virtualmachines #uncategorized #microcode #security #biz #cloud #intel #cpu
#lispygopher #climate on #archived SCROLL DOWN at 000UTC Wednesday (Tuesday)
@kentpitman small essay toot on the meaning of climate change
https://climatejustice.social/@kentpitman/111341851885480599
with reference to an earlier haiku
#gopher (s)
I will read @jns VOIP number from their phlog
and discuss jns' languages phost
wrt #vhdl and #lisp and #lispm #fpga #microcode ( @amszmidt @havoc ) (one week in)
#music by @headchant https://rdlk.xyz/
#art by @prahou #unix_surrealism https://analognowhere.com
