“After a public disclosure of a security flaw with nearly every Intel processor produced for the last 15 years, concern grew that a fix may take up to 30 percent of the processing power away from a system,” Mike Wuerthele reports for AppleInsider. “But Apple appears to have at least partially fixed the problem with December’s macOS 10.13.2 —and more fixes appear to be coming in 10.13.3.”
“Multiple sources within Apple not authorized to speak on behalf of the company have confirmed to AppleInsider that there are routines in 10.13.2 to secure the flaw that could grant applications access to protected kernel memory data,” Wuerthele reports. “These measures, coupled with existing programming requirements about kernel memory that Apple implemented over a decade appear to have mitigated most, if not all, of the security concerns associated with the flaw publicized on Tuesday.”
Wuerthele reports, “Further confirming the fixes, developer Alex Ionescu has further identified the code that fixed the issue, and is calling it the ‘Double Map.'”
https://twitter.com/aionescu/status/948609809540046849
“AppleInsider is in the midst of comparative speed testing on a 2017 MacBook Pro,” Wuerthele reports. “Early indications are that there are no notable slowdowns between a system running macOS High Sierra 10.13.1 and 10.13.2.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: More proof that relying on one vendor for a component as important as the CPU, the poster child for “primary technology,” is lunacy.
I’ve always wanted to own and control the primary technology in everything we do. — Steve Jobs, October 12, 2004
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In order to build the best products, you have to own the primary technologies. Steve felt that if Apple could do that — make great products and great tools for people — they in turn would do great things. He felt strongly that this would be his contribution to the world at large. We still very much believe that. That’s still the core of this company. — Apple CEO Tim Cook, March 18, 2015
SEE ALSO:
Intel’s massive chip flaw could hit Mac where it hurts – January 3, 2018
Project Marzipan: Can Apple succeed where Microsoft failed? – December 21, 2017
Apple is working to unite iOS and macOS; will they standardize their chip platform next? – December 21, 2017
Why Apple would want to unify iOS and Mac apps in 2018 – December 20, 2017
Apple to provide tool for developers build cross-platform apps that run on iOS and macOS in 2018 – December 20, 2017
The once and future OS for Apple – December 8, 2017
On the future of Apple’s Macintosh – February 6, 2017
Tim Bajarin: I see Apple moving many users to an iOS-based mobile device over the next 3-4 years – November 7, 2016