When attempting to apply the microcode update using the given instructions in dom0 cli, the command returns an attempted download, but it does not confirm the file has been downloaded and applied.
Can you provide the exact input (command) and output?
You don’t need to install anything, it’s already included in the current microcode package in dom0. This QSB was released while Qubes 4.0 was still being maintained in 2020.
For some reason I am still experiencing a crash related to RDRAND and systemd. It keeps happening.
You already have the latest microcode provided in dom0. Also, this QSB is not related to your issue in any way.
How are you coming to that conclusion? Can you explain the logic?
The “impact” part of this QSB is pretty self-explanatory.
What is the most current cpu microcode version? Where can I find this in the documentation?
The latest version of the microcode_ctl package on Qubes is 2.1-56.
This information is not available in the documentation.
Use dnf info in dom0 or check the repository itself:
What do you suggest is the source of the crash? Could the intel microcode driver be the issue?
Could there be a bug in this code? Could it be the source of a supply chain attack?
What format does intel use for microcode, and why is this not in a form consumable by Linux’s microcode driver? Why does it need to be transformed?
The following microcode driver is necessary to convert from an intel file format, maybe.rpm into
an initrd that can be loaded into RAM. But what if there are bugs/vulns introduced during this conversion?