Protect Windows against Speculative Store Bypass exploits
It has become quite time consuming to stay up to date with the ever increasing threats that Spectre and Meltdown pose to computer systems around the world.
New variants pop up regularly, and manufacturers like Intel and AMD, and software developers like Microsoft, release advisories, updates, and instructions regularly for some but not all hardware or software that are affected potentially.
While you have probably done a bit of patching already to protect against some variants, you are not done yet.
Microsoft updated an advisory on today's Patch Day that includes instructions on enabling protection against Speculative Store Bypass (SSB) in Intel and AMD processors.
The update requires that microcode or firmware updates are installed on target machines running Intel processors. AMD systems don't require microcode updates according to Microsoft.
What you need to do to install the updates is the following therefor:
- Install the June 2018 security updates for your operating system (client and server supported, see chart below).
- Install the firmware or microcode update for Intel machines when released by Intel.
- Modify the Registry to enable the protection.
Question is: should you enable the protection? Microsoft did not enable it by default but revealed that it will enable the protection automatically if it notices exploits that are in the wild.
Installing the update won't affect performance according to Microsoft but enabling the protection in the the Registry will have an impact on the device's performance; this is the most likely reason why Microsoft did not enable the protection by default.
The following table shows the vulnerabilities and their default state on all supported versions of Windows.
| Operating System | CVE-2017-5715 | CV-2017-5754 | CVE-2018-3639 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows 10 | Enabled by default | Enabled by default | Disabled by default - see ADV180012 |
| Windows Server 2016 | Disabled by default - see KB4072698 | Disabled by default - see KB4072698 | Disabled by default - see ADV180012 |
| Windows 8.1 | Enabled by default | Enabled by default | Not applicable |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 | Disabled by default - see KB4072698 | Disabled by default - see KB4072698 | Disabled by default - see ADV180012 |
| Windows RT 8.1 | Enabled by default | Enabled by default | Not applicable |
| Windows 7 | Enabled by default | Enabled by default | Disabled by default - see ADV180012 |
| Windows Server 2008 R2 | Disabled by default - see KB4072698 | Disabled by default - see KB4072698 | Disabled by default - see ADV180012 |
| Windows Server 2008 | Enabled by default | Enabled by default | Not applicable |
To enable the Speculative Store Bypass protection in Windows, do the following:
Note: We recommend that you backup the Registry or create a system backup before you run these commands.
- Open an elevated command prompt by clicking on Start, typing cmd.exe, holding down the Shift-key and the Ctrl-key, before selecting the Command Prompt result.
- Do the following on AMD systems:
- Run reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management" /v FeatureSettingsOverride /t REG_DWORD /d 64 /f
- Run reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management" /v FeatureSettingsOverrideMask /t REG_DWORD /d 3 /f
- To protect against Speculative Store Bypass run the following commands:
- reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management" /v FeatureSettingsOverride /t REG_DWORD /d 8 /f
- reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management" /v FeatureSettingsOverrideMask /t REG_DWORD /d 3 /f
- Restart the PC.
To undo the protection outlined under 3) above run the following from an elevated command prompt:
- reg delete "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management" /v FeatureSettingsOverride /f
- reg delete "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management" /v FeatureSettingsOverrideMask /f
See KB4073119 for additional information or updates.
Related articles
- New InSpectre release reveals if microcode updates are available
- Ashampoo Spectre Meltdown CPU Checker
- Check Linux for Spectre or Meltdown vulnerability
- Find out if your Windows PC is affected by Meltdown/Spectre vulnerabilities
What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?
Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.
If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.
5. Rufus
6. Ventoy
PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.
I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.
bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.
ps…. time travelling?
written. Jan 15, 2023
Updated • Jan 13, 2023
This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.
Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.
I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:
1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)
2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)
3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””
4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows
5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss
Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:
6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now
Have I missed any group off this list?
You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.
Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.
Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update
only from windows update though
KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site
1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.
2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.
3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.
This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.
Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.
Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.
Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215
check out the following recent articles:
Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/
BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/
While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.
My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277
I try to disable the Diagnostics Tracking Service (Connected Devices Platform User Services) but it wont let me disable it, any help will be greatly appreciated.
Tank you for your help