Ubuntu Security Team worked hard over the past two months to test and integrate what they called one of the most complex sets of patches into the kernel packages used by all supported Ubuntu Linux releases, including Ubuntu 12.04 ESM (Extended Security Maintenance), Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, and Ubuntu 17.10, to protect them aginst the Meltdown and Spectre bugs. Canonical says that all users of the Ubuntu Linux releases mentioned above should expect the updated kernels early next week, on January 9, or sooner if it’s possible. The updates are only for the 64-bit x86 architecture (amd64), affecting Linux kernel 4.13 HWE in Ubuntu 17.10, Linux kernel 4.4 (and 4.4 HWE) in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, Linux 3.13 in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, and Linux 3.2 in Ubuntu 12.04 ESM.