Anthropic Mythos AI uncovers macOS M5 kernel vulnerabilities

WSJ: Anthropic’s Mythos helped researchers find 2 unknown macOS kernel bugs and turn them into a working privilege escalation exploit in 5 days. The target was the macOS kernel, the deepest layer of Apple’s desktop operating system, where code controls memory, processes, permissions, and access to hardware. Mythos helped connect 2 separate flaws with extra exploitation techniques, which means the attack did not rely on one bug but on a chain where each step made the next step possible. The exploit allegedly corrupted memory, bypassed Apple’s memory integrity protections, and gained access to protected parts of the system that normal apps should never reach. This is serious because modern macOS defenses are built to make memory bugs hard to convert into control of the machine, not just hard to find. Mythos can become so powerful here because vulnerability research is a search problem with many dead ends, where the model can help form hypotheses, inspect code behavior, reason across low-level constraints, and suggest exploit paths faster than manual work alone. --- wsj .com/tech/ai/anthropic-mythos-apple-macos-bug-339da403