VMware Spectre and Meltdown Information

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Recently the most talk about security measurement against the two discovered vulnerabilities has raised a lot of talks. This all started and revealed by Google Project Zero.

I have also recently shared advice from VMware support and KBs to our Singapore VMUG users during our event yesterday.

Below is a summary of questions and the approach you should be doing for patching your VMware environment.

Details on Spectre and Meltdown
https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2018/01/what-are-spectre-and-meltdown-and-why-should-you-care/
https://blog.barkly.com/meltdown-spectre-patches-list-windows-update-help

Technical explanation: http://frankdenneman.nl/2018/01/05/explainer-spectre-meltdown-graham-sutherland/

Side Notes

  • ESXi is only affected by Spectre and all patches for ESXi 5.5. and above has been released. Removed due to retracting of code instructed by Intel. Check update below.
  • ESXi is NOT affected by Meltdown as it does not have untrusted user access.


FAQ
  1. We heard that the patches affect performance. Will these patches from VMware affect the performance of hypervisor?
    Patches from ESXi have no measurable performance impact. But guest level patching might have. Guest OS vendor is the right contact to comment on this. E.g. from Microsoft.
  2. Other than patching ESXi and OS is there other things to take note?VM hardware must be upgraded in order for the patches to work. Virtual Hardware Version 9 is a minimum requirement for Hypervisor-Assisted Guest Mitigation for branch target injection (CVE-2017-5715) due to MSR bit been exposed in this version. Hardware version 11 is best recommended as PCID on CPU is exposed in this version.
  3. I am running vCenter on Windows, do I need to patch vCenter?
    Yes, please download the latest patches together with ESXi for your vCenter. Follow the same upgrade process as per upgrading.
  4. How will VM that is running Windows XP, 2003, Windows 2000 and legacy OS be impacted?
    OS vendors should provide the patches. In this case, Microsoft does not provide the patches for legacy OS, there will be no solution.
  5. Do I need to install BIOS patch from server vendor if I have applied ESXi patches?
    Yes, it is best to apply server vendor BIOS patches if available as server vendor might provide additional components specific to their server hardware.
    Follow Server vendor BIOS update. ESXi patches has been retracted following Intel 's instruction.
  6. What if I have applied server BIOS patches do I still apply VMware ESXi patches?
    ESXi will only push microcode on the hardware if it is older.
    No more ESXi patches.
  7. I am using server custom ESXi ISO but it is not updated, can I apply the patches from VMware?
    Yes, you can apply these patches to custom ISO. Please check with your hardware vendors for any special change they might have.
    No more ESXi patches.
  8. How do I know if my CPU has an updated microcode from Intel?
    Please check https://security-center.intel.com/advisory.aspx?intelid=INTEL-SA-00088&languageid=en-fr.

Refer to security advisories 
  1. https://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2018-0004.html supersede https://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2018-0002.html

Additional materials

Update 23rd Jan 2018
VMware has updated the response on this KB.
If you are running on ESXi 5.5, there is an update patch based on the Security Advisories.

 Update 22nd Jan 2018
VMware has released some dashboard kit using vRealize Operations to help monitor performance after patches recommendations and manage BIOS patches here. If you are do not own vRealize Operations, you can use the evaluation for 60 days.

Update 15th Jan 2018
ESXi patches update has been retracted till further notice. Only vCenter update applies. Follow KB update.

Update 13th Jan 2018
Following Intel's update, please follow https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/52345 for Intel Haswell and Broadwell processors

 

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