Intel Processor Microcode Package for Linux CPU microcode is a mechanism to correct certain errata in existing systems. The normal preferred method to apply microcode updates is using the system BIOS, but for a subset of Intel's processors this can be done at runtime using the operating system. This package contains those processors that support OS loading of microcode updates. The target user for this package are OS vendors such as Linux distributions for inclusion in their OS releases. Intel recommends getting the microcode using the OS vendor update mechanism. Expert users can of course update their microcode directly outside the OS vendor mechanism. This method is complex and thus could be error prone. Microcode is best loaded from the BIOS. Certain microcode must only be applied from the BIOS. Such processor microcode updates are never packaged in this package since they are not appropriate for OS distribution. An OEM may receive microcode packages that might be a superset of what is contained in this package. OS vendors may choose to also update microcode that kernel can consume for early loading. For e.g. Linux can update processor microcode very early in the kernel boot sequence. In situations when the BIOS update isn't available, early loading is the next best alternative to updating processor microcode. Microcode states are reset on a power reset, hence its required to be updated everytime during boot process. Loading microcode using the initrd method is recommended so that the microcode is loaded at the earliest time for best coverage. Systems that cannot tolerate downtime may use the late reload method to update a running system without a reboot. == About Processor Signature, Family, Model, Stepping and Platform ID == Processor signature is a number identifying the model and version of a Intel processor. It can be obtained using the CPUID instruction, and can also be obtained via the command lscpu or from the content of /proc/cpuinfo. It's usually presented as 3 fields: Family, Model and Stepping (In the table of updates below, they are shorten as F, MO and S). The width of Family/Model/Stepping is 12/8/4bit, but when arranged in the 32bit processor signature raw data is like 0FFM0FMS, hexadecimal. e.g. if a processor signature is 0x000906eb, it means Family=0x006, Model=0x9e and Stepping=0xb A processor product can be implemented for multiple types of platforms, So in MSR(17H), Intel processors have a 3bit Platform ID field, that can specify a platform type from at most 8 types. A microcode file for a specified processor model can support multiple platforms, so the Platform ID of a microcode (shorten as PI in the table) is a 8bit mask, each set bit indicates a platform type that it supports. One can find the platform ID on Linux using rdmsr from msr-tools. == Microcode update instructions == -- intel-ucode/ -- intel-ucode directory contains binary microcode files named in family-model-stepping pattern. The file is supported in most modern Linux distributions. It's generally located in the /lib/firmware directory, and can be updated through the microcode reload interface. To update early loading initrd, consult your distribution on how to package microcode files for early loading. Some distros use update-initramfs or dracut. As recommended above, please use the OS vendors are recommended method to ensure microcode file is updated for early loading before attempting the late-load procedure below. To update the intel-ucode package to the system, one need: 1. Ensure the existence of /sys/devices/system/cpu/microcode/reload 2. Copy intel-ucode directory to /lib/firmware, overwrite the files in /lib/firmware/intel-ucode/ 3. Write the reload interface to 1 to reload the microcode files, e.g. echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/microcode/reload If you are using the OS vendor method to update microcode, the above steps may have been done automatically during the update process. -- intel-ucode-with-caveats/ -- This directory holds microcode that might need special handling. BDX-ML microcode is provided in directory, because it need special commits in the Linux kernel, otherwise, updating it might result in unexpected system behavior. OS vendors must ensure that the late loader patches (provided in linux-kernel-patches\) are included in the distribution before packaging the BDX-ML microcode for late-loading. == 20200609 Release == -- Updates upon 20200520 release -- Processor Identifier Version Products Model Stepping F-MO-S/PI Old->New ---- new platforms ---------------------------------------- ---- updated platforms ------------------------------------ HSW C0 6-3c-3/32 00000027->00000028 Core Gen4 BDW-U/Y E0/F0 6-3d-4/c0 0000002e->0000002f Core Gen5 HSW-U C0/D0 6-45-1/72 00000025->00000026 Core Gen4 HSW-H C0 6-46-1/32 0000001b->0000001c Core Gen4 BDW-H/E3 E0/G0 6-47-1/22 00000021->00000022 Core Gen5 SKL-U/Y D0 6-4e-3/c0 000000d6->000000dc Core Gen6 Mobile SKL-U23e K1 6-4e-3/c0 000000d6->000000dc Core Gen6 Mobile SKX-SP B1 6-55-3/97 01000151->01000157 Xeon Scalable SKX-SP H0/M0/U0 6-55-4/b7 02000065->02006906 Xeon Scalable SKX-D M1 6-55-4/b7 02000065->02006906 Xeon D-21xx CLX-SP B0 6-55-6/bf 0400002c->04002f01 Xeon Scalable Gen2 CLX-SP B1 6-55-7/bf 0500002c->05002f01 Xeon Scalable Gen2 SKL-H/S R0/N0 6-5e-3/36 000000d6->000000dc Core Gen6; Xeon E3 v5 AML-Y22 H0 6-8e-9/10 000000ca->000000d6 Core Gen8 Mobile KBL-U/Y H0 6-8e-9/c0 000000ca->000000d6 Core Gen7 Mobile CFL-U43e D0 6-8e-a/c0 000000ca->000000d6 Core Gen8 Mobile WHL-U W0 6-8e-b/d0 000000ca->000000d6 Core Gen8 Mobile AML-Y42 V0 6-8e-c/94 000000ca->000000d6 Core Gen10 Mobile CML-Y42 V0 6-8e-c/94 000000ca->000000d6 Core Gen10 Mobile WHL-U V0 6-8e-c/94 000000ca->000000d6 Core Gen8 Mobile KBL-G/H/S/E3 B0 6-9e-9/2a 000000ca->000000d6 Core Gen7; Xeon E3 v6 CFL-H/S/E3 U0 6-9e-a/22 000000ca->000000d6 Core Gen8 Desktop, Mobile, Xeon E CFL-S B0 6-9e-b/02 000000ca->000000d6 Core Gen8 CFL-H/S P0 6-9e-c/22 000000ca->000000d6 Core Gen9 CFL-H R0 6-9e-d/22 000000ca->000000d6 Core Gen9 Mobile ---- removed platforms ------------------------------------