AMD Zen 2 design will address Spectre with in-silicon changes

Posted on Wednesday, January 31 2018 @ 10:12 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
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Also during the opening notes of AMD's fourth-quarter conference call, CEO Lisa Su provided a little update about the Spectre CPU vulnerabilities. She mentioned that CPU microcode updates will be rolled out for Spectre Variant 2, even though AMD still believes that this vulnerability is difficult to exploit on AMD-based systems. Furthermore, Su shared that the future Zen 2 processor design will further address Spectre-like exploits:
Before I close, I’d like to address the recent important security issues facing our industry. Security is and always has been a fundamental focus for AMD, across all our products. We are vigilant about security in both our product design and throughout the product lifecycle. As new exploits arise, like we have seen with Spectre and Meltdown, we are dedicated to responding with speed and focus to keep our customers and partners informed and protected. As a reminder, we believe Meltdown is not applicable to AMD processors.

For Spectre Variant 1, we continue actively working with our ecosystem partners on mitigations, including operating system patches that have begun to roll out. We continue to believe that Variant 2 of Spectre is difficult to exploit on AMD processors. However, we are deploying CPU microcode patches that in combination with OS updates provide additional mitigation steps. Longer term, we have included changes in our future processor cores, starting with our Zen 2 design, to further address potential Spectre like exploits. We continue to collaborate closely with the industry on these vulnerabilities and are committed to protecting AMD users from these and other security threats as they arise.
As a reminder, Zen 2 is not the same as the Ryzen 2000. The latter is based on the Zen+ design, which is an enhanced 12nm variant of the first-gen Zen.


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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