Not only Microsoft is impacted though. Intel has much to lose, though not by as much; its low powered Atom processors have not been adopted by the market, except during the very short Netbook boom. AMD saw these signs and has altered its server roadmap to include ARM processors signalling its change from the x86 architecture.

I have over-simplified the overarching details of what had lead to the changes, but you have to admire the effect that disruptive technologies can have, even it has been around for a long time. ARM is no new newcomer (it’s been around since the 1980’s), but has consistently come up with good designs that mobile and smartphone producers have included in their products. ARM read the market well to realise that the mobile, low-power market would have been huge.

Such is the power of vision.

Original article: ARM: Breaking Monopolies and Giving Choices

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The vulnerability is identified as CVE-2012-0217 and stems from the way Intel 64 CPUs have implemented the SYSRET instruction. The vulnerability can only be exploited on Intel CPUs when the Intel 64 extension is in use, that is, using a 64-bit OS; 32-bit OSes are not affected.

AMD does not implement the SYSRET instruction the same way and is not similarly affected. However, systems running on AMD64 chips may lock up under an attack and may therefore pose a Denial of Service (DoS) vulnerability.

A list of vendors and their vulnerability status is shown below. Note that this list may not be updated and you should check the CERT-US website for updates.

Interxect Services advises customers to update your systems with vendor approved patches as they become available.

Original article: CERT-US Advises that 64-bit OSs and virtualization software on Intel 64 chips are vulnerable to hacks

©2025 Interxect Services Limited. All Rights Reserved.