Joseph Ravichandran: PACMAN Attack — Breaking Apple M1 Protections
A DEF CON 30 talk about a novel hardware-software attack on Apple M1 processors. The researcher demonstrates how to bypass Pointer Authentication (PAC), a security feature designed to prevent memory exploitation.
The PACMAN method leverages microarchitectural side channels and speculative execution to brute-force pointer authentication codes without causing system crashes.
The talk includes a practical demonstration of the attack and explains why such vulnerabilities emerge at the intersection of hardware design and software security mechanisms.
The PACMAN method leverages microarchitectural side channels and speculative execution to brute-force pointer authentication codes without causing system crashes.
The talk includes a practical demonstration of the attack and explains why such vulnerabilities emerge at the intersection of hardware design and software security mechanisms.