Intel warns patches for chip flaws are buggy: Report

In a confidential document shared with some of its customers,  Intel said it has identified three issues in updates released over the past week.  The news story was first reported in Wall Street Journal. The company warned that its patches for chip flaws are buggy. It is quietly advising some customers to hold off installing patches that address new security flaws affecting virtually all of its processors.

In a security update statement posted on its website, the company said: “We have received reports from a few customers of higher system reboots after applying firmware updates. Specifically, these systems are running Intel Broadwell and Haswell CPUs for both client and data center. We are working quickly with these customers to understand, diagnose and address this reboot issue. If this requires a revised firmware update from Intel, we will distribute that update through the normal channels. We are also working directly with data center customers to discuss the issue.”

Navin Shenoy, general manager of the company’s data center group, also said reiterated what Intel CEO Brian Krzanich emphasized in his Security-First Pledge about Intel’s commitment to transparency in reporting progress in handling the Google Project Zero exploits. The company advised end-users to continue to apply updates recommended by their system and operating system providers.

Last week, Intel confirmed the security issues reported by researchers that its microprocessors could allow hackers to steal sensitive information from computers, phones and other electronic devices.