Apple Says Chip Flaws Impact All iOS and Mac Devices
Jan 4, 2018, 9:10 PM by Eric M. Zeman
Apple today verified that many of its laptops, tablets, and smartphones are compromised by the security issues known as Meltdown and Spectre. These exploits take advantage of a modern CPU tool called speculative execution, which allows processors to predict where instructions will travel. Hackers could use certain techniques to manipulate speculative execution in order to access privileged memory, such as that of the kernel. Apple says the vulnerabilities are found in all modern processors and touch nearly every computing device and operating system, including its Mac computers, iPads, and iPhones. However, Apple has already mitigated the issue via recent system updates. For example, iOS 11.2 for iPhones and iPads, macOS 10.13.2 for Mac computers, and tvOS 11.2 for the Apple TV defend against these exploits. Apple has a release planned for Safari that will help protect Macs against the Spectre vulnerability. The company will continue to monitor the exploit and test further updates to keep Meltdown and Spectre at bay. There are no known exploits of either Meltdown or Spectre.
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