Apple prides itself on the security of its devices, but that doesn’t mean they’re immune to malicious attacks. That point has just been proven by researchers who say they’ve discovered a major new vulnerability in any Mac that runs on an Apple silicon chip, according to a report from Ars Technica. Worst of all, it looks like the problem is completely unpatchable.
So, what’s the flaw? According to the researchers, it all comes down to components called data memory-dependent prefetchers (DMPs). Essentially, these predict what data is going to be needed next and preemptively retrieve it. The idea is that this saves on computing resources, but they leave a potential window open to attack.
If that opportunity is exploited, and attacker could steal a Mac’s encryption keys, even when they’re protected by cryptographic apps designed to keep them safe. That could potentially give a malicious actor wide-ranging access to what’s stored on your Mac.
But unlike most modern vulnerabilities, the researchers say this one cannot be patched because it is inherent to the “microarchitectural” design of Apple silicon chips. There are steps that can be taken to mitigate it, but they might have a serious impact on the performance of the affected chips.
This is an issue affecting Apple silicon chips and, unfortunately, it seems that that means every Apple silicon chip generation. So, it’s not something you can avoid if you have the latest M3 MacBook Pro, for example.
The researchers dubbed the exploit GoFetch, and it’s not known if it has been used in the wild yet. Using the attack, the team was apparently able to extract a 2048-bit RSA key in under an hour, which is pretty fast.
According to the researchers, they first brought the flaw to Apple’s attention on December 5, 2023, and waited 107 days before making it public.
The only bright side is that this attack is unlikely to be used on regular Apple users. But that’s not much comfort when we know there’s very little Apple can do to banish the issue once and for all. We’ll have to see what — if anything — Apple is able to do to fix it and keep your Mac safe.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.