The Meltdown Mac OS
The Meltdown Mac OS
On January 23, 2018, Apple released a third set of updates for macOS that backported previous Meltdown patches to older versions of the macOS operating system.
- Apple today confirmed that it has addressed the recent 'Meltdown' vulnerability in previously released iOS 11.2, macOS 10.13.2, and tvOS 11.2 updates, with additional fixes coming to Safari in the.
- Apple adds that it has already released Meltdown-related patches for iOS (v11.2), macOS (v10.13.2) and tVOS (v11.2), and our advice is to download these right away if you have an at-risk device.
- Readers who own an Apple Mac running on an older version of the company’s operating system are now able to download a software patch that promises to protect their computers against the dreaded Spectre and Meltdown attacks. This is after Apple released updates for two of its older operating systems yesterday, namely OS X El.
Meltdown and Spectre CPU Flaws Affecting Mac and iOS Devices. Apple has announced a statement on Meltdown and Spectre. All Apple's iPhones, iPads & Mac computers are vulnerable to the major processor flaws revealed on Statement from Apple. Relief to Apple customers from Meltdown.
Apple first patched the Meltdown flaw (CVE-2017-5753) on December 6, 2017, with the release of iOS 11.2, macOS 10.13.2, and tvOS 11.2.
The company then patched the Spectre flaws (CVE-2017-5753 and CVE-2017-5715) in a separate security update released on January 8, 2018, for macOS High Sierra 10.13.2, iOS 11.2.2, and Safari 11.0.2.
Yesterday, Apple's security team released supplemental security updates for older macOS versions —macOS Sierra 10.12.6 and OS X El Capitan 10.11.6.
The Meltdown Mac Os 11
These updates backported the company's Meltdown patch, originally released in December 2017.
Many users have criticized Apple for releasing Meltdown and Spectre patches only for recent OS versions. The criticism came from the fact that users had to update the entire OS to receive a critical security fix. In some cases, updating the OS was not an option, meaning many users were left running an insecure OS.
While Apple's security team is mum on such issues, many experts now expect the company to backport the Spectre flaw to older macOS versions in a future update as well, and maybe backport the patches for older iOS versions too.
Besides the backported Meltdown patches, the macOS security updates also include a fix for a zero-day released at the end of last year by a security researcher known as S1guza.
Apple also released security fixes for other products as well. Please refer to the table below for more details.
Name and information link | Available for | Number of vulnerabilities | Release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| iTunes 12.7.3 for Windows | Windows 7 and later | 2 | 23 Jan 2018 |
| iCloud for Windows 7.3 | Windows 7 and later | 2 | 23 Jan 2018 |
| Safari 11.0.3 | OS X El Capitan 10.11.6, macOS Sierra 10.12.6, and macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 | 3 | 23 Jan 2018 |
| watchOS 4.2.2 | All Apple Watch models | 12 | 23 Jan 2018 |
| iOS 11.2.5 | iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation | 13 | 23 Jan 2018 |
| macOS High Sierra 10.13.3, Security Update 2018-001 Sierra, and Security Update 2018-001 El Capitan | macOS High Sierra 10.13.2, macOS Sierra 10.12.6, and OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 | 17 | 23 Jan 2018 |
| tvOS 11.2.5 | Apple TV 4K and Apple TV (4th generation) | 12 | 23 Jan 2018 |
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Within a week after the Meltdown and Spectre exploits revealed, the first Apple Spectre patches were introduced. And Apple has finally released their next slew of patches that will help protect Apple computers against Meltdown and Spectre.
There has been some confusion about what was “fixed” in which patch. In this article, we will share with you exactly mitigations were introduced in which OS X update. As usual, we will update this article, as and when new Apple Spectre or Meltdown patches are released.
The Meltdown Mac Os Catalina
macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 Supplemental Update
Date Of Introduction : 8 January 2018
Operating System Patched : macOS 10.13 High Sierra
GPZ Variant Addressed : Spectre 1 and 2 (CVE-2017-5753 and CVE-2017-5715)
The first known update was the macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 Supplemental Update. It introduced a number of mitigations against the two Spectre variants (CVE-2017-5753 and CVE-2017-5715). Specifically, several security improvements were made to Safari and WebKit.
After updating, Safari will be upgraded to version 11.0.2 (13604.4.7.1.6) or version 11.0.2 (13604.4.7.10.6).
Security Update 2018-001 Sierra
[adrotate group=”2″]Date Of Introduction : 23 January 2018
Operating System Patched : macOS 10.12 Sierra
GPZ Variant Addressed : Meltdown (CVE-2017-5754)
This security update patched all versions of macOS Sierra against the Meltdown exploit (CVE-2017-5754).
Security Update 2018-001 El Capitan
Date Of Introduction : 23 January 2018
Operating System Patched : OS X 10.11 El Capitan
GPZ Variant Addressed : Meltdown (CVE-2017-5754)
This security update patched all versions of OS X El Capitan against the Meltdown exploit (CVE-2017-5754).
From what we understand, these are the likely Apple Spectre and Meltdown patches that are still outstanding, and will eventually be released :
The Meltdown Mac Os X
- A Meltdown patch for macOS High Sierra
- Spectre mitigation patches for macOS Sierra and OS X El Capitan
- EFI firmware updates for various Mac computers
We will update this article, as and when new Apple Spectre or Meltdown patches are released.
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The Meltdown Mac OS