The Meltdown Mac OS
Apple: Mac OS 10.10 Yosemite: Where do I get the patch to fix the Meltdown exploit?Helpful? Mac OS 10.10 Yosemite: Where do I get the patch to fix the Meltdown exploit?Helpful? Apple released mitigations for Meltdown in iOS 11.2, macOS 10.13.2, and tvOS 11.2, and also in Security Update 2018-001 for macOS Sierra and Security Update 2018-001 for OS X El Capitan. WatchOS did not require mitigation.
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. As with Macs, the Meltdown issue was patched in December, in this case with iOS 11.2, which can be installed by opening Settings, tapping General and tapping Software update.
Apple has released patches to handle the Meltdown vulnerability on Intel processors for older versions of its desktop operating system.
Earlier this month, Apple distributed a patch for macOS 10.13.2 High Sierra, but has now released updates for macOS 10.12.6 Sierra and OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan as well, which remain in use by a minority of customers.
'Systems with microprocessors utilising speculative execution and indirect branch prediction may allow unauthorised disclosure of information to an attacker with local user access via a side-channel analysis of the data cache,' Apple said in its advisory.
A total of 17 security issues are addressed by Apple in its latest set of patches for macOS and OS X.
Patching against the Meltdown and Spectre security vulnerabilities has turned out to be problematic for vendors.
Intel, which earlier this month released microcode firmware for thousands of processors going back over two decades, has advised its hardware partners and users not to apply the current set of patches.
It warned they could cause system instability and make computers reboot. Intel has promised to bring out new patches that are currently being tested.
Rival chip maker AMD and Microsoft had to pull patches for Spectre after users reported that computers with older Athlon, Sempron and Turion processors would not boot up with the updates applied.
The Meltdown Mac Os Catalina
The Meltdown and Spectre patches also degrade system performance, as they turn off processor optimisation features.
The Meltdown Mac Os X
Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Red Hat are advising their customers not to install the Spectre BIOS updates.