Intel-based systems running Ubuntu may see a significant boost in graphics performance after the Linux distribution disables security mitigations for Spectre attacks. Spectre, a class of attacks that came into public notice in 2018, exploits architectural flaws in modern CPUs to extract confidential data.
The mitigation measures implemented to address this issue have degraded graphics processing performance by up to 20%. However, Ubuntu’s decision to disable these mitigations in the device driver for Intel Graphics Compute Runtime is expected to result in a significant performance improvement of up to 20%.
According to Ubuntu developer Shane McKee, the company has consulted with Intel and decided that Spectre mitigations are no longer necessary at the Compute Runtime level. This change will be implemented as part of the Questing Quokka release scheduled for October.
In this decision, Ubuntu aims to find a balance between performance and security. The mitigation measures will still be applied in the kernel, but users running modified kernels without these patches will receive clear warnings from the Compute Runtime build.
Source: https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/06/ubuntu-disables-intel-gpu-security-mitigations-promises-20-performance-boost