Like many folks around the world, I was wondering if this Meltdown and Spectre flaw would impact my computers and virtual machines. Microsoft has started to release emergency fixes for Windows 10 and its been said that Windows 8 and legacy 7 will also receive patches.
Microsoft has released a PowerShell script that lets users check whether they have protection in place.
Steps to take:
- Open PowerShell (I like to use PowerShell ISE)
- Run PowerShell as as Administrator.
- Type Install-Module SpeculationControl and press Enter.
- When the installation completes, type Import-Module SpeculationControl and press Enter.
- Type Get-SpeculationControlSettings and press Enter.
In the list of results that’s displayed, you’re looking to see that a series of protections are enabled — this will be listed as True. Ref: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4073119/protect-against-speculative-execution-side-channel-vulnerabilities-in
Should reassemble
Speculation control settings for CVE-2017-5715 [branch target injection]
- Hardware support for branch target injection mitigation is present: True
- Windows OS support for branch target injection mitigation is present: True
- Windows OS support for branch target injection mitigation is enabled: True
Speculation control settings for CVE-2017-5754 [rogue data cache load]
- Hardware requires kernel VA shadowing: True
- Windows OS support for kernel VA shadow is present: True
- Windows OS support for kernel VA shadow is enabled: True
- Windows OS support for PCID optimization is enabled: True