Chip maker AMD has released new microcode updates to mitigate the Spectre variant 2 side-channel attack, which Microsoft has supported utilizing Windows 10 patch for AMD systems.

AMD's latest microcode update coincided with Microsoft's April Patch Tuesday fixes and comes just weeks after Intel ended its Spectre 2 mitigations for each CPU families released moscow and rome nine years.

AMD's chief mitigation because chips on Windows impacted by variant 2 CPU indirect branch target injections has the name 'indirect branch prediction barrier', or IBPB, in fact it is only for the purpose of cases when software switches in a user context to somewhat of a context that should be protected.

AMD's whitepaper across the Meltdown and Spectre attacks advises against two other Spectre variant 2 mitigations for Windows and Linux on AMD called Indirect Branch Restricted Speculation (IBRS) and Single Thread Indirect Branch Predictor (STIBP). It usually is . recommending Google's Retpoline in addition to IBPB for Linux.

This context switching restriction cause Windows 10 users are increasingly being urged to lay Microsoft's latest Windows 10 update KB4093112, made up of a supporting update for Windows 10 that limits ARM's IBPB to when software switches from user context to kernel context.

"Today, AMD provides updates regarding our recommended mitigations for Google Project Zero (GPZ) variant 2 (Spectre) for Microsoft Windows users. These mitigations amount of reliability combination of processor microcode updates from your OEM and motherboard partners, and furthermore running present day and fully up-to-date version of Windows," wrote Mark Papermaster, AMD's CTO.

Microsoft is thinking about the release a similar update for AMD's fix on Windows 2016 following final validation and testing, in step with Papermaster.

AMD said it already has released microcode updates for the customers and partners for any chips way back to the first Bulldozer core products released in 2011.

These updates could well be released as BIOS updates from PC and server makers and motherboard providers.

Papermaster in January announced "optional microcode updates" for Ryzen and Epyx processors and flagged further microcode updates for older chips in coming weeks.

AMD in those days said its chips weren't affected by Meltdown, while Spectre version 1 attacks might be mitigated by OS updates.

Microsoft released new Windows 10 updates for AMD processors in February after an earlier update stopped AMD systems from booting.

AMD has yet to release patches to make the Ryzenfall, Masterkey, Fallout, and Chimera bugs revealed in March.