Intel® security gets an update on their platforms.

Intel® platforms, from Nehalem to Kaby Lake, have a remotely exploitable security hole. Many sites have covered this Intel security issue and they have finally addressed it with a hot-fix.

Taken from Intel's Security Center: https://security-center.intel.com/advisory.aspx?intelid=INTEL-SA-00075&languageid=en-fr

Every version of Intel--from AMT, ISM, SBT, Nehalem to the Kaby Lake release (2008 to 2017)--has a remote security hole in the management system, not in the CPU firmware. So even if your machine isn't on SMT, ISM, or SBT, it is still vulnerable. From research, there isn't a single Intel box made in the last 8+ years that isn't at risk.

Here's a little background information: the ME controls the network ports and has DMA access to the system. It can randomly read and write to any memory or storage on the system and bypass disk encryption once unlocked. It can do this un-logged and send whatever it finds out to wherever without anyone knowing, encrypted or not.

This may seem like a lot of control for behind the scenes, but for IT-related reasons, it's understandable to have these sorts of capabilities: re-imaging systems remotely, virus cleaning, user logging, etc.

Now that the new Intel security has been released, you should update your machine whether you are using SMT, ISM, or SBT.

It's a great idea to be up to date to ensure that the Management Engine is patched. It is the highest priority to always let your machine run the security patches due to these types of threats.