Intel processor design flaw forces OS Kernel redesign

A fundamental design flaw in Intel's processor chips has forced a significant redesign of the Linux and Windows kernels to defang the chip-level security bug.Patches are being introduced and are being pushed out. According to the article, the effects are still being benchmarked, however a ballpark figure of 5-30% slow down, depending on the processor and task.

These KPTI patches move the kernel into a completely separate address space. The downside to this separation is that it is relatively expensive, time wise, to keep switching between two separate address spaces for every system call and interrupt from the hardware. These context switches force the processor to dump cached data and reload information from memory. This increases the kernel's overhead, and slows down the computer. Your Intel-powered machine will run slower as a result.

Windows, Linux and Apple's 64-bit macOS will need to be updated – the flaw is in the Intel x86-64 hardware, and it appears a microcode update can't address it. It has to be fixed in software at the OS level. Read more in the article...