SPECTRE PERFORMANCE UPDATES UPDATE
SPECTRE PERFORMANCE UPDATES PATCH
SPECTRE PERFORMANCE UPDATES SERIES

There has not been any public reports of malware attacking Meltdown (CVE-2017-5754) or Spectre (CVE-2017-5753, CVE-2017-5715) in chips, and experts speculated the likelihood of malware targeting Variant 4 (CVE-2018-3639) was also very low. The researchers also disclosed another method, the Rogue System Register Read (CVE-2018-3640) or Variant 3a, which allows normal programs to access system parameters (such as hardware status flags) which should be restricted to the operating system kernel, drivers, and hypervisors. Called “Speculative Store Bypass,” this issue (Variant 4) is a derivative of the side-channel methods Spectre (Variants 1 and 2) and Meltdown (Variant 3) and can let attackers extract secrets such as passwords from protected kernel or application memory. Speculative execution refers to the way processors try to guess what actions programs would take, and to preemptively execute instructions while waiting for slower tasks to complete. In the latest round of chip processor Whack-a-Mole, Google Project Zero and Microsoft Security Response Center disclosed details of a new attack using speculative execution to expose data stored on processors through a side channel. Chip security depends on incremental tweaks made over the next four years.

SPECTRE PERFORMANCE UPDATES PATCH

The SOLIDWORKS Development team, Technical Support, and Quality Assurance departments have all begun tests to evaluate the impact on SOLIDWORKS customers.Software companies and chip makers are working on firmware updates and software fixes to address Spectre, Meltdown, and other side-channel attacks against processors, but we can’t patch our way to better hardware security. The reduction in performance is dependent on the specific model and generation of Intel chipsets.

SPECTRE PERFORMANCE UPDATES UPDATE

It has been reported that this required Windows Update security patch can reduce overall CPU performance by 5% to 30% of the normal CPU performance values. This performance issue is not specific to SOLIDWORKS® software. You should also review the following Microsoft article:

Understanding the performance impact of spectre and meltdown mitigations on windows systems.

The security fault was fixed by a Microsoft® Windows® Update security patch released on January 9th, 2018.įor information about this issue, follow these links:

ANSWER: A critical security fault was identified with all Intel® x86 and 圆4 processors.

QUESTION: Why does my computer with an Intel® processor perform slower after installing a Windows® Update?.

We have copied the contents of the Spectre and Meltdown article below for your review: SOLIDWORKS Knowledgebase solution S-074167

SPECTRE PERFORMANCE UPDATES SERIES

If you’re using a machine with 7th or 8th GEN Intel Core i series CPUs, or equivalent generation Xeon CPUs, there may be no discernible impact. From what we’re reading, it may seem the older the CPU and system, the greater the potential impact could be. So far, no Javelin technical staff have reported any noticeable performance reduction on their laptops. The report will likely be relayed to reseller staff and further updates can be expected by our customers during the second week in February.

The SOLIDWORKS Knowledgebase solution S-074167 discusses the potential effect on performance upon systems that have employed the Microsoft® Windows® Update security patch released on January 9th, 2018 that was intended to address the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities.ĭS SOLIDWORKS intends to report the results of their ongoing tests at SOLIDWORKS World (Feb 4th – 7th 2018). DS SOLIDWORKS is performing extensive testing in an effort to determine the potential impact of any solutions that are issued to mitigate the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities.

Spectre performance updates