Apple Acknowledges Meltdown and Spectre Vulnerabilities Announces Fix

Earlier this week, researchers revealed that all CPUs made in the last two decades are vulnerable to two hardware-based exploits dubbed Meltdown and Spectre. Since their discovery, major tech players, including Apple, have been hard at work to patch their systems to foreclose the vulnerabilities from beingness exploited.

Google was in the forefront of this activity equally its Project Nix group was one of the teams which discovered this vulnerability final twelvemonth and set in motion the measures that all device manufacturers in the earth are using to thwart the threats. Microsoft has also issued an emergency Windows update to counter the vulnerabilities that affect all devices.

Apple Acknowledges Meltdown and Spectre Vulnerabilities, Announces Fix

In a recent post on its support forums, Apple has also best-selling the presence of the vulnerabilities in all Mac systems and iOS devices. The company claims that as of now, there are "no known exploits impacting customers". In order to exploit the vulnerabilities, the attacker needs to install a malicious app on a user'south Mac or iOS device, which is why the company has advised users to install software obtained simply from trusted sources and the official store.

Apple has besides announced that it has been able to find a set to patch Meltdown and the update volition exist released to iOS eleven.two, macOS 10.13.ii, and tvOS 11.ii devices shortly. The company also claims that the Apple Watch is not affected past Meltdown and therefore doesn't need a similar patch. Every bit far as Spectre is concerned, Apple plans to release mitigations in its Safari browser in the coming days, to help it defend against the vulnerability.

The company will proceed to develop and test other solutions to patch the vulnerabilities within the operating system on all platforms. In one case a solution is identified, it will be released with upcoming iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS updates.