OS/2, eCS & ArcaOS - Technical > Programming

OS/2 kernel requiring speculative execution patch!!!!

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warpsalad:
So I'm sure many are aware of the news regarding the flaw in Intel's speculative execution in the majority of the CPUs:
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/01/02/intel_cpu_design_flaw/

The problem doesn't end there, it affects anything i686 and newer (as this was when speculative execution was introduced):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P6_(microarchitecture)

Which means, anything Pentium II and newer is affected.

Will ArcaNoae be working on patching the OS/2 kernel with KPTI? Otherwise I won't be able to consider OS/2 a viable OS for going on the internet anymore for anything personal.

Dave Yeo:
We'll have to wait for the embargo on how this works exactly to end, which is supposed to be soon. There are a lot of unknowns, which CPU's exactly, I heard all produced in the last 10 years. Is it just in 64 bit mode? And such.
I can't talk for Arca Noae, but I doubt that they're capable of patching this, it's not like they have the kernels source. The OS4 kernel could be patched.
Anyways, in many ways our platform is insecure to begin with. We're always at least a year behind in browsers, which means security holes and the possibility that one tab is spying on another. Things aren't sandboxed, especially the browser, which is our biggest security hole.
On the other hand, I doubt that many people will be writing code to use against the few OS/2 users, there are much better targets. The NSA may be able to log into the Intel management engine or the AMD equivalent and basically run software at ring -1 with complete access to the computer and sooner or later someone else is going to use the same backdoor.
There's also the question of whether this flaw really affects OS/2 as I believe the kernel memory runs in a separate segment, something that is not supported by 64bit mode and I believe gives some protection.

warpsalad:

--- Quote from: Dave Yeo on January 03, 2018, 04:27:05 am ---We'll have to wait for the embargo on how this works exactly to end, which is supposed to be soon. There are a lot of unknowns, which CPU's exactly, I heard all produced in the last 10 years. Is it just in 64 bit mode? And such.

--- End quote ---
Speculative execution was introduced on i686, so anything Pentium 2 and onward basically, is affected. It is not just 64-bit as 32-bit Linux is affected as well.


--- Quote from: Dave Yeo on January 03, 2018, 04:27:05 am ---I can't talk for Arca Noae, but I doubt that they're capable of patching this, it's not like they have the kernels source. The OS4 kernel could be patched.

--- End quote ---

Then OS/2 is should only be ran on AMD processors if it's being exposed to the internet (which is a problem for me since my ThinkPads are Intel that support stuff in OS/2 I use). This is a pretty big problem.


--- Quote from: Dave Yeo on January 03, 2018, 04:27:05 am ---Anyways, in many ways our platform is insecure to begin with. We're always at least a year behind in browsers, which means security holes and the possibility that one tab is spying on another. Things aren't sandboxed, especially the browser, which is our biggest security hole.
On the other hand, I doubt that many people will be writing code to use against the few OS/2 users, there are much better targets. The NSA may be able to log into the Intel management engine or the AMD equivalent and basically run software at ring -1 with complete access to the computer and sooner or later someone else is going to use the same backdoor.
There's also the question of whether this flaw really affects OS/2 as I believe the kernel memory runs in a separate segment, something that is not supported by 64bit mode and I believe gives some protection.

--- End quote ---
If it affects x86 Linux (which it does) it will sadly affect OS/2. It's not necessarily a problem regarding the NSA or spying (esp. since all of the old CPUs I run OS/2 on don't even have the intel management engine) but the fact that exploitable javascript could steal credentials or your credit card number--and things like that. Which again... means OS/2 on intel won't be viable for anything on the internet anymore, unless someone patches the OS/2 kernel.

Roderick Klein:

--- Quote from: Devon on January 03, 2018, 04:01:41 am ---So I'm sure many are aware of the news regarding the flaw in Intel's speculative execution in the majority of the CPUs:
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/01/02/intel_cpu_design_flaw/

The problem doesn't end there, it affects anything i686 and newer (as this was when speculative execution was introduced):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P6_(microarchitecture)

Which means, anything Pentium II and newer is affected.

Will ArcaNoae be working on patching the OS/2 kernel with KPTI? Otherwise I won't be able to consider OS/2 a viable OS for going on the internet anymore for anything personal.

--- End quote ---

If you want to know if  Arca Noae wants to patch the kernel then you should also open a ticket on
https://mantis.arcanoae.com. They have stated repeatedly no ticket=no support.

Roderick

ivan:
Roderick, technically this is not a bug in the kernel since everything is fine with AMD processors. 

It is a bug in the Intel processor itself such that the kernels of all operating systems need an addition to workround the Intel processor bug. 

At the moment all Arca Noae needs to do is send out an e-mail saying either, yes we are considering something, or, no we can't do anything about it - mantis shouldn't need anything.  Since it is so bad they might be able to screw some money out of Intel to do any work necessary.

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