To show the current running version of the linux kernel one usually executes the uname -a command. The output might look like below:
uname -a
Linux host 5.5.0-linux-x86_64 #1 SMP Mon Jan 27 12:54:01 EST 2020 x86_64 Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1230 V2 @ 3.30GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux
However if you really want to know how your processor does right now, you should be using following command:
/sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/mds:Vulnerable: Clear CPU buffers attempted, no microcode; SMT vulnerable /sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/l1tf:Mitigation: PTE Inversion /sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/itlb_multihit:Processor vulnerable /sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/tsx_async_abort:Not affected /sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/spectre_v1:Mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and user pointer sanitization /sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/spectrev2:Mitigation: Full generic retpoline, STIBP: disabled, RSB filling /sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/specstore_bypass:Vulnerable /sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/meltdown:Vulnerable
Another example of a processor that has chosen security over performance:
/sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/mds:Mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT disabled /sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/l1tf:Mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT disabled /sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/spectre_v1:Mitigation: Load fences, usercopy/swapgs barriers and user pointer sanitization /sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/spectrev2:Mitigation: IBRS (kernel), IBPB /sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/specstore_bypass:Mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and s ccomp /sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/meltdown:Mitigation: PTI
Thanks to gentoo developer Chithanh who suggested this as a joke. I hope it might help someone out there.