GPU vulnerability exposes AI data from millions of iPhones and MacBooks
Trail of Bits has discovered a GPU vulnerability in certain Apple iPhones and MacBooks. According to the researchers, millions of iPhones and MacBooks as well as other devices with AMD or Qualcomm chipsets are affected. The vulnerability is called “LeftoverLocals” and lies in the part of the GPU memory that stores AI data that is only used by the graphics chip and not the entire chipset. The vulnerability allows hackers to extract personal information that is easily accessible in the GPU’s local storage.
Apple has already confirmed that the problem is known and has released patches for devices with the M3 and A17 Bionic chipsets. However, older devices such as the iPhone 12 Pro, iPads and MacBook Air notebooks with M2 processors are still vulnerable. The exploit can be found in devices with GPUs from Apple, AMD, Qualcomm and Imagination. Nvidia, Arm and Intel are not affected.
As graphics chips become more complex and take on more tasks over time, more data inevitably flows their way. In current cases, hackers need less than 10 lines of code to access uninitialized local storage, which ranges anywhere from 5 to 180 MB. They can then read the target device’s leftover data, including LLMs (large language models). The latter are mainly used by generative AI services such as ChatGPT.
All affected companies with bugs in their hardware have already identified the problem and promised to release an update to fix it. Therefore, if an affected device shows a new firmware version, you should update as soon as possible.
