Intel asks to stop patches for CPU leaks on certain systems for the time being

Intel has advised manufacturers, software makers and end users in a new statement not to apply the current version of its Specter patches to certain systems. It claims to have found the cause of the reboot issues.

Intel writes that it has been able to determine the cause of the reboot problems caused by the patches on Haswell and Broadwell systems. It therefore recommends that the current patches not be applied to certain systems, including systems with newer processors such as the Kaby Lake and Skylake generations. The complete overview can be found in a list. This contains the microcode versions that should not be applied and the versions that Intel believes can be used.

With the cause now known, Intel is asking its partners to test the new code to speed up the release of stable patches. The chipmaker distributed a test version to its partners over the weekend and plans to release the final version as soon as the tests are completed. For users with affected systems, this seems to mean waiting for new updates from manufacturers, although Intel still writes that it advises consumers to keep their systems up to date.

In the aforementioned list, Intel says it is working with OEMs on an option to use older but stable microcode that contains mitigations for the first Specter variant and Meltdown, but has no protection against the second Specter variant. This is the variant that causes problems. Intel recently reported that it was aware of reboot issues on Broadwell and Haswell systems, but a week later, newer CPUs were also found to be plagued by the same phenomena. It is not clear from the current communication whether Intel has also identified the cause of this.