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Apple Introduces Memory Integrity Enforcement to Protect iPhone 17 Series from Sophisticated Malware Attacks

Apple Introduces Memory Integrity Enforcement to Protect iPhone 17 Series from Sophisticated Malware Attacks

Apple’s memory-based security is specifically designed to protect users against complex and advanced exploit chains.

Written by Akash Dutta, Edited by Ketan Pratap | Updated: 10 September 2025 16:34 IST

Apple Introduces Memory Integrity Enforcement to Protect iPhone 17 Series from Sophisticated Malware Attacks

Photo Credit: Apple

EMTE is also being made available to all Apple developers in Xcode

Highlights

MIE is supported by Apple’s Tag Confidentiality Enforcement policies
It is an always-on memory feature that does not require user intervention
Apple is coupling MIE with Enhanced Memory Tagging Extension (EMTE)

Alongside the launch of the iPhone 17 series, Apple has also introduced a new security feature designed to protect users against the most sophisticated malware attacks. Dubbed Memory Integrity Enforcement (MIE), it is a memory-based security system which prevents attacks by implementing a new tagging system to verify whenever an on-device system tries to connect to a memory component. The company highlighted that building this system required reorganising on-device memory allocation, the A19 chipset, the operating system, and development tools.

Apple Introduces Memory-Based Security System for iPhone 17 Series

In a blog post, the tech giant detailed the new security system it is introducing with the iPhone 17 series. While Apple already has security measures in place to tackle small-scale and wide-ranging threat attacks, this new memory-based system is aimed at the most sophisticated attacks. Such attacks often target memory safety vulnerabilities.

“Mercenary spyware is historically associated with state actors and uses exploit chains that cost millions of dollars to target a very small number of specific individuals and their devices,” the post added.

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To tackle this, Apple is introducing Memory Integrity Enforcement or MIE, which is built on the foundation of its secure memory allocators and is coupled with Enhanced Memory Tagging Extension (EMTE) in synchronous mode. Additionally, it is also supported by the company's Tag Confidentiality Enforcement policies. Interestingly, EMTE was built by Arm in 2022.

Breaking it down, the new Apple system assigns a hidden “tag” to every block of on-device memory. Whenever a system attempts to access or use the memory, the tag must match. If it does not, the process crashes safely, preventing an exploit from running.

This security system is built into the chipset and the device, and does not require any user intervention. It is an always-on memory safety protection, which has been optimised to ensure the device does not struggle with performance or battery life. Apple is also making the EMTE system available to all of its developers in Xcode to create an ecosystem-level secure environment.

Apple says it spent five years developing MIE, testing it against both known and potential future exploit techniques. The company claims that in internal trials, the technology successfully blocked most real-world attack strategies, making it far more difficult and costly for threat actors to compromise a device. Importantly, Apple also stresses that the feature is integrated deeply into iOS.

iPhone 17

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Display 6.30-inch

Processor Apple A19

Front Camera 18-megapixel

Rear Camera 48-megapixel + 48-megapixel

RAM 8GB

Storage 256GB

OS iOS 26

Resolution 1206x2622 pixels

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Further reading: Apple, Memory Integrity Enforcement, iPhone 17 series, Cybersecurity, Data Privacy

Akash Dutta Email Akash Dutta

Akash Dutta is a Chief Sub Editor at Gadgets 360. He is particularly interested in the social impact of technological developments and loves reading about emerging fields such as AI, metaverse, and fediverse. In his free time, he can be seen supporting his favourite football club - Chelsea, watching movies and anime, and sharing passionate opinions on food. More