Software Update: VMware Workstation Player 14.1.1 build 7528167

VMware has released version 141.1 Workstation Player. Player is free software to create and run virtual machines. However, a fee is charged for commercial use. Simply put, it is a simplified implementation of other VMware products, such as Workstation Pro, Server, and ESX Server. Microsoft Virtual PC virtual machines and Symantec LiveState Recovery disks are also supported. In addition, several pre-installed virtual machines can be installed via this page are downloaded, such as Debian, Ubuntu, and Fedora. Version 14 includes support for the Windows 10 Creators Update and several new guest systems. This update addresses the Specter security issue.

VMware Workstation 14.1.1 Player
This update of VMware Workstation Player exposes hardware support for branch target injection mitigation to VMware guests. This hardware is used by some guest operating systems to mitigate CVE-2018-5715 (also called by the name “Spectre”).
For a guest operating system to use hardware support for branch target injection mitigation, the following steps must be taken:

• Install this update of VMware Workstation Player.
• Ensure that your VM is using Hardware Version 9 or higher. For best performance, Hardware Version 11 or higher is recommended.
• Update your guest operating system with fixes for CVE-2018-5715 (consult the operating system vendor for these updates).
• Update the host firmware (or CPU microcode, if host firmware cannot be updated).

Please see VMware knowledge base article 52025 for more details.