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In early 2018, security researchers discovered several security vulnerabilities affecting all processors: Meltdown and Spectre. These vulnerabilities allow speculative execution side-channel attacks (CVE-2017-5715, CVE-2017-5753, CVE-2017-5754). While Meltdown was resolved with an OS patch, Spectre required a microcode update.

Since the microcode is stored and automatically loaded by the BIOS/UEFI, motherboard manufacturers required to issue an update. However, manufacturers normally release firmware updates only for their newest products. Plenty of motherboards still remain vulnerable until this very day.

Intel Microcode Boot Loader is a workaround for the microcode problem on Intel-based motherboards. It updates the microcode every time the system is booted. Based on Intel BIOS Implementation Test Suite (BITS), users no longer need to modify BIOS/UEFI ROMs to stay protected from security vulnerabilities, bugs and erratas.

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Stress testing unstable PCs from within Windows always posed a risk of corruption to the OS registry and files. But now, thanks to Linpack Xtreme for Linux and the lightweight Porteus Linux, you can stress test without those worries anymore. The bootable version of Linpack Xtreme integrated on Porteus Linux is just 320MB in size to fit on CD/DVD/USB.

Porteus is a lightweight and portable implementation of the Slackware Linux operating system that can be installed on a CD/DVD, MMC/SD card, USB flash drive or hard drive. Once installed on the storage media of your choice, it can be run on almost any PC, giving you the power and freedom of Linux anywhere you go.

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Linpack Xtreme is a console front-end with the latest build of Linpack (Intel Math Kernel Library Benchmarks 2018.3.011). Linpack is a benchmark and the most aggressive stress testing software available today. Best used to test stability of overclocked PCs. Linpack tends to crash unstable PCs in a shorter period of time compared to other stress testing applications

Linpack solves a dense (real*8) system of linear equations (Ax=b), measures the amount of time it takes to factor and solve the system, converts that time into a performance rate, and tests the results for accuracy. The generalization is in the number of equations (N) it can solve, which is not limited to 1000. Linpack uses partial pivoting to assure the accuracy of the results.

Linpack Xtreme was created because Prime95 is no longer effective like it used to be. LinX, IntelBurnTest, OCCT use outdated Linpack binaries from 2012. Modern hardware requires modern stress testing methodology with support for the latest instructions sets.

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Linked below is a database of modified BIOSes for X58 motherboards patched with the latest microcode (0×1F for Westmere, 0×1D for Bloomfield) against Meltdown and all variants of Spectre. Make sure the operating system is also updated to be fully protected from speculative execution side-channel vulnerabilities (CVE-2017-5715, CVE-2017-5753, CVE-2017-5754).

While most of Nehalem CPUs received a new microcode from Intel, there is an early stepping (C0) that hasn’t and therefore still vulnerable at the moment. However, these very few CPUs will also benefit from increased security and stability due to more recent microcode. In addition, the ROMs feature TRIM support for SSDs in RAID0 and extended CPU compatibility table for all motherboards.

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Driver signature enforcement in Windows Vista and later versions requires all kernel-mode drivers to be signed with a digital certificate. Plenty of 3rd party applications that rely on such drivers can no longer function since most software developers are simple individuals and code signing certificate is expensive. Officially, there is only a temporary solution to disable driver signature enforcement (to press F8 during system startup). Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider is a permanent solution to load unsigned kernel-mode drivers by using TESTSIGNING mode with a test-signed digital certificate.

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