Apple says Meltdown and Spectre flaws affect all Mac and iOS devices

The Guardian ^ | Jan 05, 2018 | Samuel Gibbs

[Oshkalaboomboom]

Apple’s iPhones, iPads and Mac computers are all vulnerable to the major processor flaws revealed on Wednesday, the company has warned, but it says updates are already available.

The flaws known as Meltdown and Spectre affect almost every modern computing device from all manufacturers using chip designs from Intel, AMD and ARM. Apple uses Intel processors in its Mac computers and ARM-based designs for its A-series processors used in the iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and Apple Watch lines.

Apple said: “All Mac systems and iOS devices are affected, but there are no known exploits impacting customers at this time.”

The company advised customers to download software only from trusted sources such as its iOS and Mac App Stores to help prevent hackers from being able to use the processor vulnerabilities.

In a support document, Apple said that iOS 11.2 released on 13 December, macOS 10.13.2 released on 6 December and tvOS 11.2 released on 4 December all protect against Meltdown for supported devices and that WatchOS did not need updating.

Apple said it was developing protections against the Spectre flaw for its Safari browser for iOS and macOS, and would release them in the coming days to help stop potential exploitation via JavaScript running in the browser from a website.

Apple said: “Our current testing indicates that the upcoming Safari mitigations will have no measurable impact on the Speedometer and ARES-6 tests and an impact of less than 2.5% on the JetStream benchmark.”

[AllAmericanGirl44]

bkmk

[exDemMom]

I’m using an iPad, not an iMac. I haven’t touched a Mac computer in years. There is no cursor on the iPad, I just poke the screen.