New Apple M1 Chip Security Flaw and there’s good news and bad news in the Apple ecosystem, specifically regarding the company’s M1 chip. The bad news is that researchers discover a security flaw in the chip’s design that needs a redesign to fix.
This Apple M1Chip Security Flaw allows two malicious apps on a machine utilizing an M1 chip to set up a covert communications channel and communicate with each other.
As bad as it sounds, the significant silver lining in the equation is that unless two separate forms of malware have compromised your machine by other means, the exploit is entirely useless.
Although harmless on its own, the exploit is still a big deal. It is essential to Apple engineers, who said outright that the concept of covert communications on any level is a violation of the company’s OS security model. Unfortunately, Apple has not said there will be a redesign of the M1 or completion date.
In any case, if two different pieces of malware have infected your M1-based machine, you’ve got bigger problems than worrying about whether or not they’re communicating with each other. So this flaw is almost certainly no reason enough, on its own, to prompt potential buyers to steer clear of the M1.
It is something of a black eye to Apple, however. All through its development cycle, the company claimed that the M1 would be the most advanced and secure chip on the market when released. A flaw like this that is in the silicone itself is an undeniably clear refutation of those claims. It’s almost certain that the company will address the issue one way or another, even if they haven’t yet released a timetable for doing so.
