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Intel says fix for massive flaw may itself be causing problems

Illustration: Rebecca Zisser / Axios

Intel said Thursday night that a firmware update it issued for a massive chip vulnerability may be causing some computers to reboot themselves more often.

Why it matters: This, combined with performance issues, could give some businesses and consumers cause to delay patching their systems, which in turn leaves them vulnerable to attack.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier Thursday that Intel was quietly telling some customers to avoid applying its firmware update.

Intel said on its web site that it is working to understand this latest issue, but encouraged customers to "continue to apply updates recommended by their system and operating system providers."

Here is the company's latest statement:

We have received reports from a few customers of higher system reboots after applying firmware updates. Specifically, these systems are running Intel Broadwell and Haswell CPUs for both client and data center. We are working quickly with these customers to understand, diagnose and address this reboot issue. If this requires a revised firmware update from Intel, we will distribute that update through the normal channels.  We are also working directly with data center customers to discuss the issue.
End-users should continue to apply updates recommended by their system and operating system providers.
Cybersecurity