Bullion Support

Technical Support Bulletin

Product SUBJECT Dossier Number Rev

Bullion S Server Meltdown and Spectre security flaw 400 18-01 2

Issue Date Writer Approved by Domain Exp. Date

January 09,2018 P. Arbenz F. Lozano Hardware Undef.

Problem Description
A major security flaw related to the microarchitectural implementation on many microprocessors has been
found. All CPUs using out of order execution model and specially speculative execution and branch prediction
are possibly concerned.
https://security-center.intel.com/advisory.aspx?intelid=INTEL-SA-00088&languageid=en-fr

This flaw is divided into 3 variants, each described in a specific CVE publicly available:
- Variant 1: CVE-2017-5753, [1]
- Variant 2: CVE-2017-5715, [2]
These 2 variants are known as "Spectre" flaw and affect CPUs from different vendors: Intel,
ARM and AMD. Spectre can be used to grant access to sensitive information in other
applications memory region.
- Variant 3: CVE-2017-5754, [3]
This variant is known as "Meltdown" flaw and affects only Intel CPUs. Meltdown allows access to
privileged memory region (kernel) from user space.

Detailed technical description can be found online:

https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.fr/2018/01/reading-privileged-memory-with-side.html

Proposed Solution
❶ CPU microcode update:

- New firmware providing patched microcode for Broadwell and Haswell CPU’s is released and can be
downloaded on SOL Web site: https://support.bull.com/ols/product/platforms/bullion
- New firmware for Ivybridge CPU’s is under development by Intel and will be released as they become
available to us on SOL Website.

Doc. Reference: 400-18-01 Ver 2 Page: 1 / 2

Atos Bull-SAS Confidentiel Atos Bull-SAS Confidential & Proprietary

" Ce document et les informations qu'il contient sont confidentiels et
appertiennent à BULL-SAS. Il sont communiqués uniquement au personnel du
Groupe Bull dans le seul but de lui permettre d'exercer ses activités. Ce
document ne peut être copié ou diffusé sans l'autorisation formelle de la
Direction de BULL SAS Technologie"
" This document and the information contained herein are confidential to and
the proprietary of BULL-SAS and are made available only to Bull Group
employees for sole purpose of conducting BULL-SAS business.
❷ Operating system update:

 Red Hat:
RedHat Security/Vulnerability Responses CVE-2017-5754 CVE-2017-5753 CVE-2017-5715:
https://access.redhat.com/security/vulnerabilities/speculativeexecution

 VMware:
VMware has published VMware Security Advisory VMSA-2018-0002 :
https://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2018-0002.html

Bull Customized ESXi image for Bullion will be updated and published on SOL Web site:
https://support.bull.com/ols/product/platforms/bullion/bullion-S/dl/pkgf/esxi

 SUSE:
SUSE Linux security updates CVE-2017-5715/ CVE-2017-5753/ CVE-2017-5754/
https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-5715/
https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-5753/
https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-5754/

 Microsoft:
Security Advisory 180002: Guidance to mitigate speculative execution side-channel vulnerabilities:
https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4072698/windows-server-guidance-to-protect-against-the-
speculative-execution
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4072699/january-3-2018-windows-security-updates-and-
antivirus-software

 For other operating systems:

Customers are advised to contact their OS distributor to receive the required updates.

Bull Atos Engineering and Support is working with Intel and OS software developers to evaluate the impact on
systems performance and the way to monitor it on Bullion solutions.

If you have any questions or would like information on our current offerings or upgrade products, please contact
your local Atos/Bull sales or customer service representative.

Sincerely,

Your Bullion Support Team.

- = - = - = - = - END OF DOCUMENT – END OF ENCLOSURE - = - = - = - = -

Doc. Reference: 400-18-01 Ver 2 Page: 2 / 2

Atos Bull-SAS Confidentiel Atos Bull-SAS Confidential & Proprietary

" Ce document et les informations qu'il contient sont confidentiels et
appertiennent à BULL-SAS. Il sont communiqués uniquement au personnel du
Groupe Bull dans le seul but de lui permettre d'exercer ses activités. Ce
document ne peut être copié ou diffusé sans l'autorisation formelle de la
Direction de BULL SAS Technologie"
" This document and the information contained herein are confidential to and
the proprietary of BULL-SAS and are made available only to Bull Group
employees for sole purpose of conducting BULL-SAS business.