Ubuntu To Disable Intel Graphics Security Mitigations To Boost GPU Performance By Up To 20% (arstechnica.com)
(Monday June 23, 2025 @11:30PM (BeauHD)
from the recouping-lost-performance dept.)
- Reference: 0178153921
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/06/23/2046259/ubuntu-to-disable-intel-graphics-security-mitigations-to-boost-gpu-performance-by-up-to-20
- Source link: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/06/judge-rejects-claim-that-forcing-openai-to-keep-chatgpt-logs-is-mass-surveillance/
Disabling Intel graphics security mitigations in GPU compute stacks for OpenCL and Level Zero [1]can yield a performance boost of up to 20% , prompting Ubuntu's Canonical and Intel to disable these mitigations in future Ubuntu packages. Phoronix's Michael Larabel reports:
> Intel does allow building their GPU compute stack without these mitigations by using the "NEO_DISABLE_MITIGATIONS" build option and that is what Canonical is looking to set now for Ubuntu packages to avoid the significant performance impact. This work will likely all be addressed in time for Ubuntu 25.10. This NEO_DISABLE_MITIGATIONS option is just for compiling the Intel Compute Runtime stack and doesn't impact the Linux kernel security mitigations or else outside of Intel's "NEO" GPU compute stack. Both Intel and Canonical are in agreement with this move and it turns out that even Intel's GitHub binary packages for their Compute Runtime for OpenCL and Level Zero ship with the mitigations disabled due to the performance impact.
This Ubuntu Launchpad [2]bug report for the Intel Compute Runtime notes some of the key takeaways. There is also [3]this PPA where Ubuntu developers are currently testing their Compute Runtime builds with NEO_DISABLE_MITIGATIONS enabled for disabling the mitigations.
[1] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/06/judge-rejects-claim-that-forcing-openai-to-keep-chatgpt-logs-is-mass-surveillance/
[2] https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/intel-compute-runtime/+bug/2110131
[3] https://launchpad.net/~mckeesh/+archive/ubuntu/lp2110131
> Intel does allow building their GPU compute stack without these mitigations by using the "NEO_DISABLE_MITIGATIONS" build option and that is what Canonical is looking to set now for Ubuntu packages to avoid the significant performance impact. This work will likely all be addressed in time for Ubuntu 25.10. This NEO_DISABLE_MITIGATIONS option is just for compiling the Intel Compute Runtime stack and doesn't impact the Linux kernel security mitigations or else outside of Intel's "NEO" GPU compute stack. Both Intel and Canonical are in agreement with this move and it turns out that even Intel's GitHub binary packages for their Compute Runtime for OpenCL and Level Zero ship with the mitigations disabled due to the performance impact.
This Ubuntu Launchpad [2]bug report for the Intel Compute Runtime notes some of the key takeaways. There is also [3]this PPA where Ubuntu developers are currently testing their Compute Runtime builds with NEO_DISABLE_MITIGATIONS enabled for disabling the mitigations.
[1] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/06/judge-rejects-claim-that-forcing-openai-to-keep-chatgpt-logs-is-mass-surveillance/
[2] https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/intel-compute-runtime/+bug/2110131
[3] https://launchpad.net/~mckeesh/+archive/ubuntu/lp2110131
Disable Snap (Score:3)
by RazorSharp ( 1418697 )
Disable Snap by default and fully support apt again and I might consider installing Ubuntu again. Until then they're dead to me.
Re: (Score:2)
by TheMiddleRoad ( 1153113 )
They don't care.
Here's a good link (Score:3)
by TheMiddleRoad ( 1153113 )
[1]https://www.phoronix.com/news/... [phoronix.com]
[1] https://www.phoronix.com/news/Disable-Intel-Gfx-Security-20p
Who needs that pesky security anyway? (Score:1)
Who needs that pesky security anyway?
At the least it should be an option for the end user/installer to choose or not.
(And the linked article is about Chatgpt and not Ubuntu, by the way.)
Re: (Score:2)
Apparently you don't need the mitigations in the compute library if you have them in the kernel