Intel has issued a press statement on Wednesday to inform the media that our reports on the security flaw affecting Intel CPUs only are incorrect.
A report published on Tuesday by The Register suggested that all Intel processors released over the past decade are affected by a nasty hardware bug that could allow remote attackers to access sensitive data stored in the kernel memory. As the bug couldn't be patched at hardware level, it forces OS vendors like Microsoft and Apple to redesign their kernels.
Intel now says that the reported exploits are affecting not only their chips, but many types of computing devices. Also, they believe that these exploits aren't harmful and won't "corrupt, modify or delete data" on your personal computer. The company is currently working with AMD and ARM to develop an industry-wide approach to fix the bug.
"Recent reports that these exploits are caused by a "bug" or a "flaw" and are unique to Intel products are incorrect. Based on the analysis to date, many types of computing devices — with many different vendors’ processors and operating systems — are susceptible to these exploits," reads today's press release. "Intel believes these exploits do not have the potential to corrupt, modify or delete data."
The reports also suggested that the upcoming patch implemented by OS vendors at software level will have a significant impact on the processing power of affected systems, up to 30 percent. According to Intel, any performance impacts will be dependent only the workload of these machines powered by an Intel processor released in the past decade, and will be mitigated over time.
Intel is currently working with AMD and ARM to develop an industry-wide approach to fix the critical issue in a timely manner and urges all users to update their systems as soon as possible to the new versions of the operating systems or kernels they are running when these become available for installation.
The company already provided developers and OS vendors with software and firmware updates that would mitigate these exploits affecting many types of computing platforms, and planned to make everything public next week when the users have already patched their computers.
Meanwhile, it was discovered that Apple already patched the security flaw in its macOS operating system last month with the macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 software update, but the bug is only partially addressed, as the Cupertino-based company plans to fully address the issue with the upcoming macOS 10.13.3 release.
