Tech companies are scrambling to sort out the mess created by the recently-revealed Spectre and Meltdown security vulnerabilities. Thanks to how the flaws work, the majority of smartphones and PCs are vulnerable and will need updating.
The one exception appears to be Chromebooks. Meltdown mainly affects Intel processors, and many Chromebooks run on other chips. Devices running versions 3.18 or 4.4 of the Linux kernel, which includes many Chromebooks, are also immune.
Because that list of criteria isn’t exactly simple, Google has made a complete list of every Chromebook device, whether it’s vulnerable or not, and whether a patch to defend against Meltdown is coming. Some old Chromebook are past the end of life, and won’t be receiving a patch. The vast majority of current Chromebooks are not vulnerable — those marked “Yes” under the “CVE-2017-5754 mitigations (KPTI) on M63?” column — and a few have patches coming. Those vulnerable devices are:
- Samsung Chromebook Series 5
- Acer Chromebase 24
- HP Pavilion Chromebook 14
- HP Chromebook 14
- Toshiba Chromebook 2 (2015 Edition)
- Toshiba Chromebook
- Google Chromebook Pixel
- Dell Chromebook 13 7310
- Acer Chromebox
- LG Chromebase 22CB25S
- LG Chromebase 22CV241
- Acer Chromebook 11 (C740)
- ASUS Chromebox CN60
- Acer C720 Chromebook
- Acer Chromebox CXI2
- Google Chromebook Pixel (2015)
- Lenovo Thinkpad X131e Chromebook
- Samsung Chromebox Series 3
- Lenovo ThinkCentre Chromebox
- Dell Chromebox
- Dell Chromebook 11
- Acer Chromebook 15 (CB5-571)
- HP Chromebox CB1-(000-099) / HP Chromebox G1 / HP Chromebox for Meetings
