3. Driver Updates

The kernel-utils package provides microcode_ctl utility code and the microcode data itself — supplied by Intel — to assist the kernel in updating the CPU microcode at system boot time. This microcode supports all current Intel x86- and Intel 64-based CPU models and takes advantage of the mechanism built-in to Linux that allows microcode to be updated after system boot. When loaded, the updated microcode corrects the behavior of various Intel processors, as described in processor specification updates issued by Intel for those processors. In the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.9 release the kernel-utils package has been updated with the 2010-09-14 version of Intel's microcode.