A heads up for kernel updaters

For anyone using Zorin without manually updating your kernels, this doesn't apply and won't for quite a while to come. For anyone updating their kernel frequently (most likely with a kernel repository so it updates with software updater or APT) and a Zen 5 CPU, you may want to be aware of a CVE that can pop a scary looking error as you boot. These newest kernels are showing that error to inform you of the CVE, and are disabling a CPU instruction to protect you, but I've seen reports that it's made some machines running Fedora fail to boot. I did not have that problem on Zorin 17.3 with Xanmod kernel 6.17.9; the message displayed and my system has worked fine.

https://www.amd.com/en/resources/product-security/bulletin/amd-sb-7055.html

The warning you'll see is "RDSEED32 is broken. Disabling the corresponding CPUID bit." To fix this properly, you'll need a BIOS update. AMD provided the necessary code to motherboard manufacturers on November 25 for most boards; whether or not a firmware update with a fix is available depends on your motherboard manufacturer. ASUS has updated some of their products, but not others yet.

As for the actual security risk, the text of the CVE indicates it'd require a "local attacker," so for most personal computers, the risk is low. I'm mainly posting so people don't see the error and fret over it, or if it actually DOES cause their computer not to boot, to know they need an updated BIOS, or to roll back their kernel in the short term.

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This is helpful information for others to know. Thank you for sharing.

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