Macs with Apple Silicon Suffer From an Unfixable Flaw that Leaks Security Keys

Apple Mac computers have been running on in-house Arm-based processors since 2020, offering a significant performance and efficiency boost compared to rival computers. However, a recent discovery has revealed that Macs with Apple Silicon suffer from an unfixable flaw that leaks security keys.

Researchers have identified a flaw, known as GoFetch, in Apple’s M1, M2, and M3 series of processors. This vulnerability allows attackers to extract security keys from the chips, potentially compromising encryption.

Macs with Apple Silicon Suffer From an Unfixable Flaw that Leaks Security Keys

GoFetch is classified as a “microarchitectural side-channel attack” and specifically targets a component of Apple’s chips called the data memory-dependent prefetcher (DMP), which is designed to accelerate operations.

Unfortunately, fixing this flaw is not straightforward, as it is related to the hardware design of the chips. The research team has found that only the M3 chip can disable the DMP. It indicates that future M-series processors will require hardware changes to address the vulnerability comprehensively.

While Intel’s 13th-generation Raptor Lake chips also feature a DMP, the activation criteria are more restrictive, making them less susceptible to such attacks.

However, implementing measures to mitigate this flaw could lead to a significant performance penalty. One proposed defence is to run cryptographic tasks on Apple’s efficiency cores, which are reportedly not vulnerable to this flaw. However, this could result in slower performance, and there is no guarantee that the efficiency cores will remain unaffected by DMP in the future.

If you own a Mac or MacBook powered by Apple Silicon, you have limited options to protect yourself from this vulnerability. The research team recommends regularly updating your device and software to minimize the risk.