As of kernel 5.10, static calls are now a reality. That means the foundation of the Linux operating system is protected against the likes of Spectre V1/2, without suffering from the issues introduced by retpolines.

Read more about the Linux kernel static calls (written by Josh Poimboeuf), where you can see the kernel patch he created to employ this new feature.

Although the Linux kernel 5.10 hasn’t found its way into the majority of distributions (as of now, most Ubuntu-based distributions are running kernel 5.8), you should expect this kernel to hit the likes of Ubuntu in April 2021, in version 21.04.

#linux #linux kernel #speculative execution attacks #static calls