Understanding Meltdown, Spectre, Skyfall, and Solace CPU Vulnerabilities – FAQ and Mitigation

Google's Project Zero team disclosed the Meltdown and Spectre CPU vulnerabilities in early 2018, shaking the computing world; recent reports claim two additional speculative‑execution flaws named Skyfall and Solace, inspired by James Bond movies.

Both the original and alleged new bugs exploit the processor's branch‑prediction and speculative execution features, making them difficult to fully eliminate; some sources suspect Skyfall and Solace may be a hoax because manufacturers have not confirmed them.

The article compiles a comprehensive FAQ covering what the vulnerabilities are, their naming (CVE‑2017‑5753, CVE‑2017‑5715, CVE‑2017‑5754), which devices and CPUs are affected (Intel, AMD, ARM, IBM POWER, Fujitsu SPARC, many desktops, laptops, smartphones, tablets, streaming boxes), and which operating systems are impacted (Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android, FreeBSD).

It clarifies that antivirus software cannot protect against these hardware attacks, that microcode updates from Intel are being rolled out, and that OS vendors have released patches that reduce but do not fully eliminate risk, often causing a performance penalty of up to 10 % on older CPUs.

Additional guidance includes how to verify if a system is vulnerable (using Intel's audit tool), where to find updates (manufacturer websites, heise.de), and why phishing emails claiming to offer security patches are malicious.

The FAQ also addresses common concerns such as remote exploitability (requires malicious code execution, especially via browsers), the limited protection offered by private‑browsing modes, and the need for coordinated patches across browsers, OSes, and firmware.