Printed From: ASRock.com
Category: Technical Support
Forum Name: Intel Motherboards
Forum Description: Question about ASRock Intel Motherboards
URL: https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=10011 Printed Date: 21 Nov 2024 at 7:13pm Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.04 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Intel Microcode Boot LoaderPosted By: Regeneration
Subject: Intel Microcode Boot Loader
Date Posted: 26 Oct 2018 at 5:50pm
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.
This solution requires permanently plugged USB flash drive with at least
25MB (or similar device) and BIOS/UEFI supporting boot from USB
devices.
Instructions:
1. Format a USB flash drive with FAT32 filesystem.
2. Extract the archive to the USB flash drive and run install.exe to make it bootable.
3. Enter the BIOS/UEFI, assign the USB flash drive as the 1st boot device and enable legacy boot mode.
4. The boot loader will regularly update the microcode and load the OS.
Notes:
* This release includes the latest ucodes for 392 Intel CPUs produced from 1996 to 2018.
* The ucodes are stored in the \boot\mcudb folder if you wish to update in the future.
* If you get 'Ucode not found' warning during installation, or plan to
deploy on another PC, look for the correct ucode (by CPUID) in
\boot\mcudb and copy it to \boot\mcu.