It is a well-known fact that most modern Intel, ARM, and AMD CPUs and phones are affected by the serious Kernel memory leak issues known as the Spectre and Meltdown. Though Microsoft and Google had responded and said that they are taking steps to prevent any malicious attacks, it was Apple who didn’t respond. However, the Cupertino company has now acknowledged the flaw and said that all Mac and iOS devices are affected.
Though the systems and phone are affected, the company stressed by saying that there are no known exploits impacting customers at this time. Apple has also clarified that it released mitigations in iOS 11.2, macOS 10.13.2, and tvOS 11.2 to help defend against Meltdown. Since exploiting many of these issues requires a malicious app to be loaded on Mac or iOS device, Apple has advised installing softwares from known sources only.
Furthermore, Apple has assured that in the coming days it is planning to release mitigations in Safari to help defend against Spectre which is another form of the security flaw. Despite the concerns that the fixes might slow down the computers, Apple said that its steps against Meltdown haven’t dented performance. However, the fix to Safari browser to tackle Spectre could slow the speed of the browser by less than 2.5%.