Corellium gets Linux running on Mac with M1-soc and puts early beta online

Virtualization company Corellium has successfully ported Linux to a Mac running M1-soc and has released a “very early beta” of Linux for M1 online. Corellium CTO Chris Wade warns that the port is for “advanced users” only.

The company, known for creating virtualizations of Apple products, says that it “had some time left” and ported Linux to a new Mac with M1 soc. A screenshot shows that Linux starts. A day later technical director Chris Wade a preview online as a download, stating that it is not yet a full release. In that version, USB and SMP don’t work yet. The download is now offline again, probably pending a more stable release, which the company will release on Monday expect to release.

Corellium was recently in the news because Apple lost part of a lawsuit against the company. Apple sued Corellium for offering iOS emulation. According to Apple, this is an infringement of its copyright. The emulation is intended for security researchers to look for vulnerabilities in iOS. This can be done more efficiently through an emulation than on a physical iPhone.

At the moment the Linux port is not really usable yet, says Corellium. The company is still working on a version with stable USB, it says. It therefore advises users to wait for that version and not to play with the version that Chris Wade has put online.