Processor Speculative Execution Research Disclosure (v4)

You are viewing a previous version of this security bulletin. For the most current version please visit: "Processor Speculative Execution Research Disclosure".

Concerning: CVE-2017-5715, CVE-2017-5753, CVE-2017-5754

Update As Of: 2018/01/05 21:00 PST

This is an update for this issue.

Amazon EC2

All instances across the Amazon EC2 fleet are protected from all known threat vectors from the CVEs previously listed. Customers’ instances are protected against these threats from other instances. We have not observed meaningful performance impact for the overwhelming majority of EC2 workloads.

Recommended Customer Actions for AWS Batch, Amazon EC2, Amazon Elastic Beanstalk, Amazon Elastic Container Service, Amazon Elastic MapReduce, and Amazon Lightsail

While all customer instances are protected, we recommend that customers patch their instance operating systems. This will strengthen the protections that these operating systems provide to isolate software running within the same instance. For more details, refer to specific vendor guidance on patch availability and deployment.

Specific vendor guidance:

For operating systems not listed, customers should consult with their operating system or AMI vendor for updates and instructions.

Updates to other AWS services

Amazon Linux AMI (Bulletin ID: ALAS-2018-939)

An updated kernel for Amazon Linux is available within the Amazon Linux repositories. EC2 instances launched with the default Amazon Linux configuration on or after 10:45 PM (GMT) January 3rd, 2018 will automatically include the updated package. Customers with existing Amazon Linux AMI instances should run the following command to ensure they receive the updated package:

sudo yum update kernel

After the yum update is complete, a reboot is required for updates to take effect.

More information on this bulletin is available at the Amazon Linux AMI Security Center.

EC2 Windows

We are updating the default Windows Server AMI and we will update this bulletin when it is available.

ECS Optimized AMI

We have released Amazon ECS Optimized AMI version 2017.09.e which incorporates all Amazon Linux protections for this issue. We advise all Amazon ECS customers to upgrade to this latest version which is available in the AWS Marketplace. Customers that choose to update existing instances in-place should run the following command on each container instance:

sudo yum update kernel

The update requires a reboot of the container instance to complete

Linux customers who do not use the ECS Optimized AMI are advised to consult with the vendor of any alternative / third-party operating system, software, or AMI for updates and instructions as needed. Instructions about Amazon Linux are available in the Amazon Linux AMI Security Center.

An updated Microsoft Windows EC2 and ECS Optimized AMI will be released as Microsoft patches become available.

Elastic Beanstalk

We will be releasing new platform versions that include the kernel update to address this issue within 48 hours. For Linux environments, we recommend that you enable “Managed Platform Updates” to automatically update within your chosen maintenance window once these updates are available. We will post instructions for Windows environments once the update is available.  

AWS Fargate

All infrastructure running Fargate tasks has been patched as described above and no customer action is required.

Amazon FreeRTOS

There are no updates required for or applicable to Amazon FreeRTOS and its supported ARM processors.

AWS Lambda

All instances running Lambda functions have been patched as described above and no customer action is required.

RDS

RDS-managed customer database instances are each dedicated to only running a database engine for a single customer, with no other customer-accessible processes and no ability for customers to run code on the underlying instance. As AWS has finished protecting all infrastructure underlying RDS, process-to-kernel or process-to-process concerns of this issue do not present a risk to customers. Most database engines RDS supports have reported no known intra-process concerns at this time. Additional database engine-specific details are below, and unless otherwise noted, there is no customer action required. We will update this bulletin as more information is available.

RDS for MariaDB, RDS for MySQL, Aurora MySQL, and RDS for Oracle database instances currently have no customer actions required.

For RDS PostgreSQL and Aurora PostgreSQL, DB Instances running in the default configuration currently have no customer actions required. We will provide the appropriate patches for users of plv8 extensions once they are made available. In the meantime, customers who have enabled plv8 extensions (disabled by default) should consider disabling them and review V8's guidance at https://github.com/v8/v8/wiki/Untrusted-code-mitigations.

For RDS for SQL Server Database Instances, we will release OS and database engine patches as Microsoft makes each available, allowing customers to upgrade at a time of their choosing. We will update this bulletin when either has been completed. In the meantime, customers who have enabled CLR (disabled by default) should review Microsoft's guidance on disabling the CLR extension at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4073225/guidance-for-sql-server.

VMware Cloud on AWS

Please refer to the VMware security advisory here for more details: https://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2018-0002.html.

WorkSpaces

AWS will apply security updates released by Microsoft to most AWS WorkSpaces over the coming weekend. Customers should expect their WorkSpaces to reboot during this period.

Bring Your Own License (BYOL) customers, and customers who have changed the default update setting in their WorkSpaces should manually apply the security updates provided by Microsoft.

Please follow the instructions provided by Microsoft security advisory at https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/ADV180002. The security advisory includes links to knowledge base articles for both Windows Server and Client operating systems that provide further specific information.

Updated WorkSpaces bundles will be available with the security updates soon. Customers who have created Custom Bundles should update their bundles to include the security updates themselves. Any new WorkSpaces launched from bundles that do not have the updates will receive patches soon after launch, unless customers have changed the default update setting in their WorkSpaces, in which case they should follow the above steps to manually apply the security updates provided by Microsoft.

WorkSpaces Application Manager (WAM)

We recommend that customers choose one of the following courses of action:

Option 1: Manually apply the Microsoft patches on running instances of WAM Packager and Validator by following the steps provided by Microsoft at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4072698/windows-server-guidance-to-protect-against-the-speculative-execution. This page provides further instructions and downloads for Windows Server.

Option 2: Rebuild new WAM Packager and Validator EC2 instances from updated AMIs for WAM Packager and Validator which will be available by end of day (2018/01/04).