Red Hat Training

A Red Hat training course is available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux

4.107. microcode_ctl

An updated microcode_ctl package that fixes two bugs and adds one enhancement is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.
The microcode_ctl package provides microcode updates for Intel and AMD processors.

Bug Fixes

BZ#690414
A previous update introduced a memory leak when loading the updated microcode into memory before conversion of the microcode into a format suitable for the CPU. This update includes a corrected patch that de-allocates the memory correctly, ensuring memory does not leak.
BZ#760323
Previously, the command line definitions from the spec file specified an incorrect path (/etc/firmware/microcode.dat) to the microcode firmware. As a consequence, updating microcode_ctl failed with the following error message:
microcode_ctl: cannot open source file '/lib/firmware/microcode.dat'
This update modifies the firmware path to the correct /lib/firmware/microcode.dat, and microcode_ctl now updates correctly.

Enhancement

BZ#713653
The Intel CPU microcode file has been updated to version 20111110. This is the most recent version of the microcode available from Intel.
Note that the system must be rebooted in order for these changes to take effect.
All users of microcode_ctl are advised to upgrade to this updated package, which fixes these bugs and adds this enhancement.