Apple Warns Older Macs Could Be Vulnerable To ‘ZombieLoad’ Type Attacks

Recently, it was revealed that there was a newly-discovered vulnerability affecting Intel processors. Dubbed ZombieLoad, the good news is that Intel is said to have since released new microcode to computer makers to help them patch their computers, but it turns out that some computers could still be vulnerable.

According to a report from AppleInsider, it seems that older Mac computers could still be vulnerable to similar style attacks. In a support document published on Apple’s website, it seems that Mac computers older than 2011 are listed as potentially vulnerable to similar types of attacks, and the reason behind Apple not being able to fix them is due to Intel not providing them with the necessary codes.

Apple writes, “These models may receive security updates in macOS Mojave, High Sierra or Sierra, but are unable to support the fixes and mitigations due to a lack of microcode updates from Intel.” However, AppleInsider points out, Apple has a support page for what they are calling “full mitigation” that would eliminate the possibility of such attacks.

The only problem with this is that it could reduce system performance by as much as 40%. That being said, it is unclear as to how many users are running Mac computers older than 2011, and even then, it was previously disclosed that the ZombieLoad attack would be quite difficult to pull off so chances of you being attacked do seem rather low.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Computers
Tags: Intel, Mac (Apple), Security