Introduction
All modern CPU vendors have a history of design and implementation defects, ranging from relatively benign stability
issues to potential security vulnerabilities. The latest CPU errata release for second generation Intel Core processors
describes a total of 120 "erratums", or hardware bugs. Although most of these errata bugs are listed as "No Fix", Intel
has supported the ability to apply stability and security updates to the CPU in the form of microcode updates for well
over a decade*.
Unfortunately, the microcode update format is undocumented. Researchers are currently prevented from gaining any
sort of detailed understanding of the microcode format, which means that it is impossible to study the updates to clearly
establish whether any security issues are being fixed by microcode patches. The following document is a summary of
notes I gathered while investigating the Intel microcode update mechanism.
* The earliest Intel microcode release appears to be from January 29, 2000. Since that date, a further 29 distinct
microcode DAT files have been released.
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