[FreeBSD-Announce] FreeBSD Security Advisory FreeBSD-SA-19:07.mds

[Wall, Stephen]

> New CPU microcode may be available in a BIOS update from your system vendor,
> or by installing the devcpu-data package or sysutils/devcpu-data port.
> Ensure that the BIOS update or devcpu-data package is dated after 2014-05-14.
> 
> If using the package or port the microcode update can be applied at boot time
> by adding the following lines to the system's /boot/loader.conf:
> 
> cpu_microcode_load="YES"
> cpu_microcode_name="/boot/firmware/intel-ucode.bin"

Is this applicable in a virtualized environment, or only on bare metal?
If not applicable in a VM, is it at least harmless?

Thanks

- Steve Wall