Security hole found in Apple’s M1 chips, is it serious?

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One of the great virtues that Apple devices usually have is that they offer excellent security against hacker attacks. But this does not mean that everything is perfect and that there are no small holes in their products. One has just been found that affects your M1 processors and is called PACMAN. One of the important details of this hole that has been found is that it seems to be at the hardware level, so we are not talking about a higher-level software failure. The consequence of this is the following: no fix can be applied by downloading a security patch or upgrade. The reason is that it affects the Apple processor directly. And what does this really mean? Well, something as basic as there is no solution right now. By the way, taking into account that the structure of the new M2 is similar to that of the previous processors (Apple Silicon), it is very possible that the fault detected by the MIT engineers is also present in the component that is initially present only in the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops. Clearly, it is clear that this is a hole that occurs in the base and design, so until the company’s range of CPUs is renewed, it does not seem that it can be remedied. How this Apple M1 vulnerability works What happens with the processor that is present in both laptops and tablets from the Cupertino company is that the memory protection system called PAC, which works with check pointers, is attacked. In a combined way of software and hardware, brute force engineers have managed to discover the signature that is needed to enter when the corresponding revision is made by the chip. Since the protection system mentioned above has a limited number of values ​​that it can use, if the necessary power is applied, it is possible to find the one that works through the little innovative system of trial and failure. Something curious and relevant is that no trace is left, which must always be taken into account. But, despite everything indicated, which seems quite dramatic, if you have an Apple team with the M1 you should not worry. It’s not something serious, luckily. As we have indicated, at the moment there is no possibility of finding a solution to the bug called PACMAN, since we are talking about hardware (which would lead to a change of components if necessary). But, yes, there is no high severity in the hole found in the M1 processors of the North American firm. The reason for saying this is that the engineers themselves indicate that the vulnerability to be effective should be accompanied by a software break for the software. And that is practically impossible right now. In other words, if the usual forms of protection are maintained, no matter how much the processor is attacked, there would be no escape route to the operating system, which would be really serious for the user. Of course, Apple developers must be careful with this problem and correct it in the future, since hackers may end up discovering a small crack through which to sneak into computers with it. The fact is that the fault is there, but it should not disturb anyone who uses a computer or tablet with the M1 chip from the company with the bitten apple. >

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