CVE-2022-23824

FAQ

Are any additional steps required to protect my system after installing the November Windows updates?

Customers who allow untrusted users to execute arbitrary code might wish to implement some extra security features within their systems. These features protect against the intra-process disclosure vectors that this speculative execution vulnerability describes. See the following for more information.

• Microsoft Windows client customers: See Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 4073119.
• Microsoft Windows Server/Azure Stack HCI customers: See Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 4072698 for additional information, including workarounds.

Microsoft Azure has taken steps to address the security vulnerabilities at the hypervisor level to protect VMs running in Azure. More information can be found here.

Can I expect any performance impact after I configure the registry keys?

In some cases, installing these updates will have a performance impact. In testing Microsoft has seen some performance impact with these mitigations, in particular when hyperthreading is disabled. Microsoft values the security of its software and services and has made the decision to implement certain mitigation strategies in an effort to better secure our products. In some cases, mitigations are not enabled by default to allow users and administrators to evaluate the performance impact and risk exposure before deciding to enable the mitigations. We continue to work with hardware vendors to improve performance while maintaining a high level of security.

Are Microsoft Azure assets protected?

Microsoft has already deployed mitigations across our cloud services. More information is available here.

How do I know if I am affected?

Please refer to AMD advisory AMD-SB-1037 to determine which AMD CPUs are affected.

Why is this AMD CVE included in the Security Update Guide?

The vulnerability assigned to this CVE is in certain processor models offered by AMD. The mitigation for this vulnerability requires a Windows update. This CVE is being documented in the Security Update Guide to announce that the latest builds of Windows enable the mitigation and provide protection against the vulnerability.

Please see the following for more information:

• AMD-SB-1040