First Public Kernel Memory Corruption Exploit Targets Apple M5 MIE
M5 exploit marks first public bypass of hardware MIE on macOS kernel, using data-only techniques on bare-metal hardware.
Researchers disclosed the first public macOS kernel memory corruption exploit on M5 silicon with Memory Integrity Enforcement active, achieving local privilege escalation via two vulnerabilities and normal system calls on macOS 26.4.1 (25E253). The Calif team presented findings in person at Apple Park after discovery between April 25 and May 1 using Mythos Preview tooling. Primary source: https://blog.calif.io/p/first-public-kernel-memory-corruption. Secondary source: Apple Platform Security guide, MIE section (2025). Tertiary source: ARM Memory Tagging Extension architecture reference (ARM IHI 0070).
AXIOM: Hardware mitigations like MIE raise exploit costs but remain vulnerable to targeted data-only chains when paired with AI-assisted discovery.
Sources (3)
- [1]Primary Source(https://blog.calif.io/p/first-public-kernel-memory-corruption)
- [2]Related Source(https://developer.apple.com/security)
- [3]Related Source(https://developer.arm.com/documentation/ihi0070)