What bothers me is the lack of confirmation on the microcode updates (other than 'soon') – apparently they're out there[1], but Intel's own package has yet to be updated[2]. The 20171215 update carried by some distros only seems to cover HSX/BDX/SKX, so does that mean regular HSW/BDW/SKL users are screwed, are they covered by the 20171117 update, or are the new microcodes simply not ready for all models yet?
Of course, the microcode updates are meaningless without the corresponding kernel patches, but apparently only RHEL and SLES were deemed worthy of receiving those ahead of time, having already rolled them out while Linus and co are left scrambling to integrate the IBRS and retpoline code dumps after the fact.
Just to add to that, it looks like some manufacturers have already pushed out the new microcode alongside the recent ME fixes.
I flashed my Skylake laptop a few days ago, and now I'm on microcode rev 0xc2 (versus 0xba in the latest Intel tarball). CPUID output suggests IBRS support (according to [1]).
Of course, the microcode updates are meaningless without the corresponding kernel patches, but apparently only RHEL and SLES were deemed worthy of receiving those ahead of time, having already rolled them out while Linus and co are left scrambling to integrate the IBRS and retpoline code dumps after the fact.
[1] https://tracker.debian.org/news/899110 [2] https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/27337/Linux-Proces...