spectre-meltdown-checker:tldr:c5921

The command sudo spectre-meltdown-checker --explain is used to provide an explanation or detailed information about the vulnerabilities known as Spectre and Meltdown.

Spectre and Meltdown are two major security flaws that affect nearly all modern computer processors. These vulnerabilities allow malicious programs to access sensitive data stored in the memory of other running programs, potentially compromising the security of the system.

When you execute sudo spectre-meltdown-checker --explain command with elevated privileges (sudo), the spectre-meltdown-checker tool is invoked with the --explain option. This prompts the tool to provide a detailed explanation about Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities, their impact, and the necessary mitigation measures.

The tool may display information such as the affected processor types, the specific variants of Spectre and Meltdown, and the steps you can take to minimize the risk of exploitation. It may also provide recommendations on applying patches or updates from the operating system or firmware vendors.

Note that the sudo command is used to run the tool with administrative privileges, as accessing certain system information and performing security checks generally require root-level access.