Meltdown/Spectre not just CPU

[cyberhash 188]

All the articles i have read regarding Meltdown & Spectre centred around Intel/Arm/Amd CPU's. But while doing a doing a check on Nvidia's site for some new drivers for my video card, it appears that their GPU's are also affected by this problem. Seems strange that this has been overlooked by any articles i have read.

Don't know if it affects AMD GPU's,  but would be worth while checking it out as i just discovered the Nvidia write/update up by chance as i regularly check for driver updates on their site.

390.65 Drivers address the issue , and a bit of literature can be read here hxxp://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4611
 

[itman 1,659]

Any device hardware that directly interfaces with a vulnerable CPU can also be exploited; namely the graphics card GPU. Hence the graphic card driver updates.

I am holding off on any manual updating and just will let Win Updates deliver any NVidia GeForce updates. Drivers delivered via Win Updates will uninstall any previous manually installed ones anyway.

Edited January 9, 2018 by itman

[cyberhash 188]

8 hours ago, itman said:

Any device hardware that directly interfaces with a vulnerable CPU can also be exploited; namely the graphics card GPU. Hence the graphic card driver updates.

 

That's part of the reason why i posted, as there will be people that believe that after applying a MS-Linux-Apple O/S update that they would be safe. When it's clearly not the case and not reported by news/sites that have covered the story.

If the problem was only native to CPU's , then why would subsequent driver updates be needed for GPU's following the O/S patches that have been implemented to address the vulnerable CPU issue.

There can only be 2 reasons

1, The O/S kernel patches are mediocre and ineffective, and only deal with the CPU issue.
2, Certain GPU's have the same/similar design flaws that can be exploited in the same manner as CPU's. Regardless of O/S & CPU type (Patched or Not)