Google admits Chrome bug responsible for crashing MacBook Airs

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Google has accepted responsibility for a kernel panic issue on Apple's new MacBook Airs that was apparently being caused by a graphics resource leak in its Chrome browser.

Shortly after Apple released updated MacBook Airs earlier this month, a number of users began reporting that the machines were frequently crashing. Gizmodo noted this week that it was experiencing the issue with its own MacBook Airs and subsequently deduced that the issue was caused by the Chrome browser.

According to one poster on Apple's Support Communities, a Genius technician said that the problem was "the specific combination of Intel HD 4000 chip + flash + Chrome." Apple was reportedly aware of the issue and planning to release a patch soon.

Google issued a statement on Thursday acknowledging that it had found a "leak of graphics resources in the Chrome browser" that has been causing a kernel panic on the new MacBook Airs. The company is working to "find and fix" the cause of the leak, but in the meantime it has issued an auto-update release that will temporarily disable GPU acceleration features in Chrome.

The announcement comes on the same day that Google launched its Chrome browser on iOS. However, the iPhone version of Chrome is mostly a UI wrapper around Apple's own Webkit platform, as Apple does not allow third-party browsers available in the App Store to have their own rendering or JavaScript engines.

MacBook Air


Google's entire statement as provided to Gizmodo:
"We have identified a leak of graphics resources in the Chrome browser related to the drawing of plugins on Mac OS X. Work is proceeding to find and fix the root cause of the leak.

The resource leak is causing a kernel panic on Mac hardware containing the Intel HD 4000 graphics chip (e.g. the new Macbook Airs). Radar bug number 11762608 has been filed with Apple regarding the kernel panics, since it should not be possible for an application to trigger such behavior.

While the root cause of the leak is being fixed, we are temporarily disabling some of Chrome's GPU acceleration features on the affected hardware via an auto-updated release that went out this afternoon (Thursday June 28). We anticipate further fixes in the coming days which will re-enable many or all of these features on this hardware."
«13456

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 103
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    I'll bet the fix is also worthy of a new version number.
  • Reply 2 of 103
    Listen all y'all, it's sabotage!!
  • Reply 3 of 103


    The kernel panic is caused by a MBA feeling violated when all its private data was being molested.

  • Reply 4 of 103


    Stop using Chrome. Problem solved.

  • Reply 5 of 103

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by nkingman View Post


    Stop using Chrome. Problem solved.



    Lot of people like obviously, it's currently the most used browser.

  • Reply 6 of 103
    myapplelovemyapplelove Posts: 1,515member
    All joking and google bashing aside, it's shocking how this can happen to os x in 2012, a gfx driver crash hasn't brought down windows since vista in what 2007? The graphics stack should simply restart without bringing down the whole os. There 's a problem here that needs to be fixed in the graphics driver, but the underlying problem which I can assume wont be fixed in ml, of the os allowing this to happen is what's really troubling here.
  • Reply 7 of 103
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by myapplelove View Post



    All joking and google bashing aside, it's shocking how this can happen to os x in 2012, a gfx driver crash hasn't brought down windows since vista in what 2007? The graphics stack should simply restart without bringing down the whole os. There 's a problem here that needs to be fixed in the graphics driver, but the underlying problem which I can assume wont be fixed in ml, of the os allowing this to happen is what's really troubling here.


     


    "the specific combination of Intel HD 4000 chip + flash + Chrome."


     


    Crash, Infection, Java, Flash, Plugin.


     


    Always the same word combinations...

  • Reply 8 of 103
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    All joking and google bashing aside, it's shocking how this can happen to os x in 2012, a gfx driver crash hasn't brought down windows since vista in what 2007? The graphics stack should simply restart without bringing down the whole os. There 's a problem here that needs to be fixed in the graphics driver, but the underlying problem which I can assume won't be fixed in ml, of the os allowing this to happen is what's really troubling here.

    Living on borrowed time…
  • Reply 9 of 103
    myapplelovemyapplelove Posts: 1,515member
    Living on borrowed time…

    Yeah dude whatever.
  • Reply 10 of 103
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member


    So  even in an article where Google admits responsibility, myapplehate manages to somehow bash Apple for the problem? :)

  • Reply 11 of 103
    myapplelovemyapplelove Posts: 1,515member
    gtr wrote: »
    "the specific combination of Intel HD 4000 chip + flash + Chrome."

    Crash, Infection, Java, Flash, Plugin.

    Always the same word combinations...

    Sure, the problem is though that the os shouldn't kerrnel panic because of that and crash, that's the whole pint of making a robust os in 2012. It should safeguard itself even from the most malicious code. What's also conveniently ommited here is that it's not the intel chip, it's the drivers for the intel chip, there's no problem on the hardware level with the intel chip. This case is revealing a much deeper vulnerability of os x.
  • Reply 12 of 103
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Yeah dude whatever.

    The bell tolls. What will happen when its fine chime has fallen to silence?
  • Reply 13 of 103
    myapplelovemyapplelove Posts: 1,515member
    "Apple wrote:
    [" url="/t/150994/google-admits-chrome-bug-responsible-for-crashing-macbook-airs#post_2136753"]So  even in an article where Google admits responsibility, myapplehate manages to somehow bash Apple for the problem? :)
    Radar bug number 11762608 has been filed with Apple regarding the kernel panics, since it should not be possible for an application to trigger such behavior.
  • Reply 14 of 103
    myapplelovemyapplelove Posts: 1,515member
    The bell tolls. What will happen when its fine chime has fallen to silence?

    I dig your hermetic poetry man.
  • Reply 15 of 103


    Slow news day?

  • Reply 16 of 103
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    The bell tolls.

    At first I thought you wrote "The bellend trolls."
  • Reply 17 of 103

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Apple ][ View Post


    So  even in an article where Google admits responsibility, myapplehate manages to somehow bash Apple for the problem? :)



     


    I tend to agree.   I tend to see a user-mode program making call down the OS X API stack causing a kernel panic as something... 'odd.'


     


    Even Apple agrees:  "Radar bug number 11762608 has been filed with Apple regarding the kernel panics, since it should not be possible for an application to trigger such behavior."


     


    This is an Apple bug that was exercised Chrome.... not maybe they sent crap down through the call... but I would hope that OS X would have done some level of checking before pushing the crap to the graphics chip, and having it spit up a kernel vomit.   Heck, I'm surprised they didn't grey list the flash code in some profiler prior to the critical call and quarantine it;-).

  • Reply 18 of 103
    myapplelovemyapplelove Posts: 1,515member
    Finally a sensible technical post, this thread had started to read like a cross between Hemingway and Orwell.
  • Reply 19 of 103
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Finally a sensible technical post, this thread had started to read like a cross between Hemingway and Orwell.

    War is not peace. Freedom is not slavery. Ignorance is not strength.

    But you are a troll.
  • Reply 20 of 103
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by myapplelove View Post



    Finally a sensible technical post, this thread had started to read like a cross between Hemingway and Orwell.


     


    Dude, the reason you come to AppleInsider:


     


    It's not your fault.


     


     


    its-not-your-fault.jpg

Sign In or Register to comment.