When I used Ubuntu 16.04, intel-microcode was available in the additional drivers tab. But it’s no longer showing up on Ubuntu MATE 18.04. I ran apt-cache policy intel-microcode
and found that I don’t have the it installed. Moreover, I get the following with a dmesg command:
sudo dmesg | grep --color -i "microcode"
[sudo] password for sakib:
[ 0.000000] [Firmware Bug]: TSC_DEADLINE disabled due to Errata; please update microcode to version: 0x22 (or later)
[ 0.803747] microcode: sig=0x306c3, pf=0x2, revision=0x19
[ 0.803800] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.2.
I’m a little worried because of the recent spectre-meltdown vulnerability. I googled a bit and researched here and there and it seems like this option has been deliberately removed, which I think makes my system vulnerable…
So, should I keep my system as it is or install intel-microcode manually?