logoalt Hacker News

GeekyBearyesterday at 6:16 PM1 replyview on HN

> it looks like the software Google is shipping intentionally doesn't use MTE on the Pixel 11 hardware. That raises the question of...what does Google know is wrong with MTE on the Pixel 11?

Apple replaced MTE with an upgraded version that can run in synchronous mode all the time without the performance hit.

> Consider that MTE can be configured to report memory corruption either synchronously or asynchronously. In the latter mode, memory corruption doesn’t immediately raise an exception, leaving a race window open for attackers... We believe memory safety protections need to be strictly synchronous, on by default, and working continuously.

https://security.apple.com/blog/memory-integrity-enforcement...

Google may just be getting ready to follow suit.


Replies

protimewasteryesterday at 7:05 PM

> Google may just be getting ready to follow suit.

That may well be, but it's a regression for the time being, since Advanced Protection mode presumably no longer uses MTE (or a replacement for MTE), whereas it did on the Pixel 8, 9, and 10.

It seems like they should've continued to offer MTE until the replacement was ready.