Novel attack exploits Apple M1 chip vulnerability

Attackers could launch a new attack dubbed "PACMAN" to compromise devices running on Apple's M1 chip, VentureBeat reports.The PACMAN attack involves successful guessing of the value of the pointer authentication code, which could then be disabled, preventing software vulnerability attack detection, according to a study from MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory researchers. However, the findings noted that exploiting PACMAN would not totally evade established security measures on Mac devices. "PACMAN requires an existing software vulnerability to function the attacker needs to be able to write out-of-bounds memory. The attacker can use the existing bug combined with what we call a PACMAN Gadget a code sequence in the victim that allows the speculative use of a signed pointer," said researcher Joseph Ravichandran. Organizations using Mac devices have been advised to ensure that they have implemented the latest software through automated updates to prevent potential PACMAN compromise.