iPhone 17 Introduces Memory Integrity Enforcement to Thwart Wallet and Passkey Attacks

Apple has unveiled a groundbreaking security feature for its upcoming iPhone 17 lineup: Memory Integrity Enforcement (MIE). This five-year engineering effort targets memory corruption vulnerabilities frequently exploited by spyware operators and hackers to bypass digital wallet and passkey protections.

Built on Enhanced Memory Tagging Extension (EMTE), MIE actively detects and blocks memory-based attacks like buffer overflows and use-after-free exploits in real-time. The system operates without performance trade-offs, protecting both kernel and system processes across userspace and kernel space.

The technology will remain permanently active on iPhone 17 and iPhone Air devices powered by the new A19 chip, with partial implementation expected for older models. This development represents Apple's most significant advancement in memory safety to date.