Big if true: AMD reportedly allows disabling of the PSP (its Intel ME equivalent)

[qubest...@tutanota.com]

Hi.

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=AMD-PSP-Disable-Option

It's still yet not known whether this disabling is effective and whether it disables the PSP in its entirety.

But if it does, then that would make the most recent AMD processors one of the best choices for Qubes 4.x usage.

[Tom Zander]

In context;

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=AMD-PSP-2018-Vulnerability

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-Tip-Git-Disable-x86-PTI

So its an up / down :)
* AMD is faster (no PTI)
* AMD has a remote code execution issue, at least until you can turn off PSA using a bios update.
* Bios updates are not much seen in the wild.

Time will tell.
--
Tom Zander
Blog: https://zander.github.io
Vlog: https://vimeo.com/channels/tomscryptochannel

[Tai...@gmx.com]

No it does not, this is simply disabling the option ROM and the PCI device.

PSP can't be disabled without massive AMD intervention as it is integral
to the boot process and it inits the main CPU.

If you want a modern performance CPU without black box supervisor
processors your choice is POWER/TALOS 2.