Most of our systems are HW version 11. However, some legacy VMs are HW version 7 and 8. The security announcement VMSA-2018-0004.1 states to "Ensure that your VMs are using Hardware Version 9 or higher...".
It is best practice to use the highest HW version wherever possible. However, there is no indication in my reading of the VMware materials if having HW version less than 9, as stated, creates a risk for the current speculative execution (Meltdown/Spectre) threats.
Is the patch provided effective for HW versions less than 9? Is it a requirement to update HW to 9+ to mitigate the threat on those VMs?
Thanks.
