The Deathray: A simple way for an untrusted site to freeze a Mac

A crafty web technology called WebGPU can be exploited to freeze a Mac's graphics, rendering the desktop UI unusable until a restart is forced. This occurs when a malicious site loads a WebGPU shader that enters an infinite busy loop, hogging the GPU and preventing other processes from utilizing it, such as the WindowServer. As a result, the user experience becomes unresponsive, with symptoms ranging from a frozen mouse to a magenta screen.

The issue is limited to MacOS systems, particularly M-series Macbooks running Tahoe, and does not affect other OSes. The problem was discovered accidentally during the exploration of WebGPU, and Apple has been notified, but the severity of the issue is disputed. While Apple considers it a medium severity issue without significant security implications, the general public perceives it as a serious security risk due to its ease of exploitation and the potential to disrupt the user experience.