Check for and Patch Spectre and Meltdown on Ubuntu

1. Does Spectre and meltdown affect Linux?
2. How can I tell if a Linux server has been patched?
3. How do I know if KPTI is enabled?
4. What is Spectre meltdown checker?
5. What is the difference between meltdown and Spectre?
6. How do I know if I have Spectre or meltdown?
7. How can I tell when a server was last patched Ubuntu?
8. How do I check for updated packages in Linux?
9. How check recently installed packages in Linux?
10. How do I turn off KPTI?
11. Is Spectre and meltdown fixed?
12. Why are Spectre and meltdown so dangerous?
13. Can Spectre and meltdown be exploited remotely?

Does Spectre and meltdown affect Linux?

Linux can deal with Meltdown and Spectre, the fundamental chip security problems, but that doesn't mean Linux's developers are happy about it. As Linux's creator, Linus Torvalds, said on the Linux Kernel Mailing List [sic]:

How can I tell if a Linux server has been patched?

To check whether or not a currently installed package has been patched for a bug or security vulnerabiltiy, zypper can be used to query packages using --bug and --cve flags (this is the preferred method). The "rpm" command with flags "-q --changelog" will also show the patches including security patches.

How do I know if KPTI is enabled?

You can check with cat /proc/cpuinfo , if it reports cpu_insecure under "bugs", then PTI is enabled.

What is Spectre meltdown checker?

The Spectre and Meltdown Checker is a script used to check if a system is potentially vulnerable to transient execution attacks such as bounds check bypass and rogue system register read. ... As a diagnostic tool, Spectre and Meltdown Checker does not make any modifications to the system or the kernel.

What is the difference between meltdown and Spectre?

What are Spectre and Meltdown? In the most basic definition, Spectre is a vulnerability allowing for arbitrary locations in the allocated memory of a program to be read. Meltdown is a vulnerability allowing a process to read all memory in a given system.

How do I know if I have Spectre or meltdown?

Here's how to check if you already have the patch for other popular operating systems: iPhones and iPads: Head to Settings > General > Software Update to check the current version of iOS you have installed. If you have at least iOS 11.2, you are protected against Meltdown and Spectre.

How can I tell when a server was last patched Ubuntu?

How to find out when Debian or Ubuntu package installed or updated

1. List packages by installation date. ...
2. See package installation date and time. ...
3. List package upgrade date and time. ...
4. Show package removal (deleted) date and time. ...
5. Say hello to /var/log/apt/history.log file. ...
6. Say hello to dpkg-query. ...
7. Conclusion.

How do I check for updated packages in Linux?

Run “apt update” or “apt-get update” before checking the list of available package updates. This will refresh the repository meta-data. This can be done using the below five commands. 'apt list –upgradable': returns a list of packages to be updated in list format.

How check recently installed packages in Linux?

To list the most recently installed packages, use the following command with the --last option. This is very useful if you recently installed or upgraded a number of packages and something unexpected happens.

How do I turn off KPTI?

KPTI can be disabled at boot time from the kernel command line through the nopti or pti=off options. On some systems, it can be disabled at runtime by writing 0 to /sys/kernel/debug/x86/pti_enabled .

Is Spectre and meltdown fixed?

Intel rushed to develop and release a security patch. ... Then at the end of January, Microsoft also announced that the Spectre and Meltdown patches for Windows 10 were compromising performance and causing random fatal errors, confirming that their security fixes were buggy.

Why are Spectre and meltdown so dangerous?

Spectre and Meltdown are alike in that neither is a true virus. Rather, they are vulnerabilities within the computer processor that are exploited to carry out an attack on a computer. What makes Spectre uniquely dangerous is its ability to cause permanent, physical damage to your computer.

Can Spectre and meltdown be exploited remotely?

With NetSpectre, the researchers detail a novel, albeit slow, approach to remotely exploiting Spectre on a vulnerable system. ... To date, though, all prior variants of Spectre and Meltdown have required an attacker to first get local access to a vulnerable system.