[Info-vax] Next release of OpenVMS x86

[John Dallman]

In article <re9oee$h7s$1 at dont-email.me>,
clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP (Simon Clubley) wrote:

> Up until now, VMS has run on specialist hardware. For the first 
> time ever, it is now going to run on some of the same hardware as 
> many other operating systems which get probed these days do.

Yup. Suddenly there are lots more people who can run it readily, and who
have a /lot/ of expertise in finding x86-specific security holes. Since
all that many of them know about VMS is that it's in some ways an
ancestor of Windows NT, and thus of current Windows versions, they'll go
looking first for analogies of Windows' recurrent problems. 

Claiming VMS is highly secure without (a) checking that the Meltdown
class of security bugs is blocked and (b) having a reasonable story on
speculative-execution problems in general is just taunting Murphy, and
asking for trouble. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meltdown_(security_vulnerability)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectre_(security_vulnerability)

John