Apple to Patch Web Browser Vulnerabilities Affecting Recent Macs, iPads and iPhones

There are two new speculative execution attacks that impact recent Apple chips, according to data shared today by Georgia Tech students that discovered the vulnerabilities.

slap flop vulnerabilities
Named SLAP and FLOP, the two security flaws could allow an attacker to use a malicious webpage to spy on the contents of other webpages, giving attackers remote access to browsing history, credit card data, emails, location information, and more. Physical access to a device is not required, and the attack can be executed through a malicious site that bypasses Apple's browser protections.

Several Apple A-series and M-series chips are affected, including the M2 and later and the A15 and later, which are in the following devices:

  • 2022 and later Mac notebooks
  • 2023 and later Mac desktops
  • 2021 and later iPad models
  • 2021 and later iPhones

SLAP and FLOP were disclosed to Apple in May 2024 and September 2024, respectively, and while the attacks have not yet been patched, the researchers who reported the issue were told that Apple plans to address the vulnerabilities in an upcoming security update.

Apple told Bleeping Computer that it has not yet patched the flaws. "We want to thank the researchers for their collaboration as this proof of concept advances our understanding of these types of threats," Apple said. "Based on our analysis, we do not believe this issue poses an immediate risk to our users."

SLAP affects Safari, while FLOP affects Safari and Chrome. Other browsers like Firefox could be affected too, but have not been tested. There is no evidence that SLAP and FLOP have been executed in the wild.

Details on how SLAP and FLOP work can be found on the website dedicated to explaining the vulnerabilities.

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Top Rated Comments

awer25 Avatar
12 weeks ago
Help us Genmoji, you're our only hope!
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
canadianreader Avatar
12 weeks ago

Apple told Bleeping Computer ('https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/new-apple-cpu-side-channel-attack-steals-data-from-browsers/') that it has not yet patched the flaws. "We want to thank the researchers for their collaboration as this proof of concept advances our understanding of these types of threats," Apple said. "Based on our analysis, we do not believe this issue poses an immediate risk to our users."
They're too busy fixing Apple Intelligence.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
centauratlas Avatar
12 weeks ago
"we do not believe this issue poses an immediate risk to our users." That may have been true but now that it was published in the two papers that Bleeping links to I would suspect that would change. Apple should have patched these. Reminds me of Meltdown and Spectre.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DeftwillP Avatar
12 weeks ago
It's ok guy, siri's got this.

"hey siri, load the patch from apple for the newest exploit"
"I couldn't find that person in your contacts"
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple Knowledge Navigator Avatar
12 weeks ago
Have they patched the other FLOP?
Think it’s called Apple Intelligence.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Razorpit Avatar
12 weeks ago

They're too busy fixing Apple Intelligence.
Maybe we can have Apple Intelligence write a patch! What could go wrong? ?
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)