Linux 6.8.1 & Other Stable Kernels Released With Intel RFDS Mitigation

A slew of new Linux stable kernel point releases were issued today, driven in part for getting out the Intel Register File Data Sampling "RFDS" mitigations for the kernel code as part of this week's disclosure and microcode updates and kernel patches.

With today's Linux 6.8.1 release the only new patches are the set for providing the Intel RFDS mitigation to work in conjunction with the new Intel CPU microcode for relevant Atom / E-core processors affected by this security vulnerability. The patches were merged back on Patch Tuesday for Linux 6.9 Git and now working their way out to the stable series. If you missed the article earlier today, see the Intel RFDS mitigation performance impact benchmarks to learn about the associated performance costs with that testing being done from an Intel Core i9 "Raptor Lake Refresh" processor.

Linux 6.7.10, 6.6.22, and 6.1.82 were also released today with the Intel RFDS mitigation plus other fixes. Additionally, Linux 5.15.152, 5.10.213, 5.4.272, and 4.19.310 saw new point releases today with various fixes while lacking the current Intel RFDS mitigation.

The new stable kernels can be downloaded from Kernel.org.