Meltdown & Spectre Information and Discussion

[ian_r_h]

Thanks for this.  Though I'm not sure how well I understand some parts.

In essence, and from technical news posts, my understanding is that (anyone has better knowledge may correct me):-

• Intel processors since the 1990s are vulnerable to this because of using the "speculative" approach.  But cancelling this approach can greatly slow processing in processor-intensive tasks.
  
• AMD prcoessors are technically unknown according to some reports, and unaffected by others; and possibly affected in their own right by others (I don't have the sources to hand).  My take is that it is unknown/thought unlikely to affect AMD processors.
  
• My take is also that it requires local access to exploit (as known at the moment), but whether that will continue the case isn't reported on in the items I've read.
  
• This has been known about for some time.
  
• The problem requires fixing at the OS level.
  

I'm presuming that using Intel processors with the current kernel 4.4.x series in Linux Lite leaves it theoretically vulnerable; though I understand that at present there is no malware exploiting the problem?