Important Notice Regarding An Apple Security Flaw

Memo

Apr 16

We wish to inform you of a critical security vulnerability that has been discovered in Apple’s M-series chips, affecting all Macs running on Apple silicon, including M1, M2, and partially the new M3 models. This architectural flaw is deemed unpatchable and could potentially break encryption if exploited.

This vulnerability has been reported by various cyber vulnerability tracking websites such as Wired.com and Macworld.com .

Key Points:

Vulnerability Discovery: A team of academic researchers has identified a microarchitectural side-channel vulnerability in the CPU design that can extract encryption keys.
Impact and Risks: The flaw affects the core architecture of M-series chips, making it impossible for Apple to issue a direct fix. A successful exploit could lead to compromised encryption. Devices using the new M3 CPU can be protected from exploitation if the software provider using the encryption function utilizes a new software configuration option. Currently we are not aware of any browsers or crypto and password vaults that have done so, but we expect them to start releasing updates that utilize the protection.

Recommendations:

If you are using devices for Apple silicon with high-value data, such as crypto currency, we suggest that you consider moving to non-Apple silicon devices.

Once browser and Crypto and password vault software have updated versions that protect M3 CPU devices, consider upgrading your older Apple M1 and M2 devices to M3 or later.
Install software updates.
Caution with app installations: Be wary of installing unsigned apps, as a malicious app is required to exploit this vulnerability.