April’s Patch Tuesday is out with a new Spectre fix for AMD systems

Laurent Giret

Windows 10

Microsoft has just released a new Patch Tuesday update for the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update today. This one is the cumulative build 16299.371, which should appear as “KB4093112” in Windows Update.

The release notes mention a new mitigation for Spectre variant 2 for PCs with AMD processors, bug fixes for Internet Explorer and the App-V service, as well as security updates for Microsoft Edge and more. The full changelog can be found below:

  • Provides support to control usage of Indirect Branch Prediction Barrier (IBPB) within some AMD processors (CPUs) for mitigating CVE-2017-5715, Spectre Variant 2 when switching from user context to kernel context (See AMD Architecture Guidelines around Indirect Branch Control and AMD Security Updates for more details). Follow instructions outlined in KB4073119 for Windows Client (IT Pro) guidance to enable usage of IBPB within some AMD processors (CPUs) for mitigating Spectre Variant 2 when switching from user context to kernel context.
  • Addresses an issue that causes an access violation in Internet Explorer when it runs on the Microsoft Application Virtualization platform.
  • Addresses an issue in Enterprise Mode related to redirects in Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge.
  • Addresses an issue that generates an access violation on certain pages in Internet Explorer when it renders SVGs under a high load.
  • Addresses additional issues with updated time zone information.
  • Addresses an issue that might cause the App-V service to stop working on an RDS server that hosts many users.
  • Addresses an issue where user accounts are locked when applications are moved to a shared platform using App-V (e.g., XenApp 7.15+ with Windows Server 2016, where Kerberos authentication isn’t available).
  • Addresses an issue with printing content generated by ActiveX in Internet Explorer.
  • Addresses an issue that causes document.execCommand(“copy”) to always return False in Internet Explorer.
  • Addresses an issue that, in some instances, prevents Internet Explorer from identifying custom controls.
  • Security updates to Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Windows kpp platform and frameworks, Microsoft scripting engine, Windows graphics, Windows Server, Windows kernel, Windows datacenter networking, Windows wireless networking, Windows virtualization and Kernel, and Windows Hyper-V.

Microsoft has yet to reveal when Windows 10 version 1803 will be generally available, but the company today also released a new cumulative update to Fast, Slow and Release Preview Insiders running build 17133 today. This one is the build 17133.73, and it may well be the build that rolls out to the public later this month.