We're seeing a recurring kernel panic across six Mac17-family Macs (Mac17,2 / Mac17,4 / Mac17,8; T8142 and T6050) in a managed fleet. 34 panic logs collected 30 Sept – 9 Oct, all with the same signature:
- panic(cpu N caller ...): Kernel tag check fault (expected tagged address: 0x...028), esr 0x96000011
- Faulting address is always at offset 0x28 of the object
- Same crash PC per build: kernel text exec base + 0x48da38 on 27.0/27.0.1, + 0x46a784 on 26.7, + 0x466ee0 on 26.5
- Panicked task is "Google Chrome Helper" in all 34 cases, thread Chrome_ChildIOThread (Chrome's IPC/network I/O thread)
- Always 3–60 s after wake from sleep, usually a dark wake with the lid closed (overnight or after a 3–18 min sleep)
- No third-party kexts loaded; "Post-boot loaded kexts" lists only Apple drivers
Affected builds: 26.5 (25F71), 26.7 (25G229), 27.0 (26A428), 27.0.1 (26A434). Not a regression from one update: a machine still on 26.5 panics identically.
Only Mac17-family hardware is affected. Older Apple silicon Macs with the same software stack are fine.
Present on every affected machine:
- Chrome PWAs (Gmail/Chat/Meet) running in the background, keeping Chrome's network service alive across sleep. On one machine Microsoft Edge is the primary browser and never panics; only Chrome Helper does.
- Microsoft Defender for Endpoint with its network filter (content filter) extension, MDM-managed.
This looks related to thread 821372, where DTS described a kernel networking panic on M5-family hardware with a Network Extension present (r.172793638 / FB22401652), fixed in 26.5b2. We appear to be seeing a tag-check-fault variant on 26.5 release and later.
Questions:
- Is this a known issue, and is it the same root cause as r.172793638?
- Is there a build where it's fixed?
- Any recommended mitigation beyond preventing sleep and quitting Chrome?
Feedback Assistant: FB25128015 with panic logs and sysdiagnose. Happy to collect more data or test a build.
Backtrace from a 27.0.1 panic (kernel text exec base 0xfffffe003aa54000), panic PC first:
lr: 0xfffffe003aee1a38
lr: 0xfffffe003aeec580
lr: 0xfffffe003b12cf34
lr: 0xfffffe003b12dc50
lr: 0xfffffe003b07b1f8
lr: 0xfffffe003b07c758
lr: 0xfffffe003b237ff4
lr: 0xfffffe003ac787f0
lr: 0xfffffe003aa576ac
lr: 0x000000018747a57c (userspace)
We’re not developing any of it.
OK.
In that case my advice is that you escalate via Apple Support resources. Usually I’d recommend the Apple Support Community, run by Apple Support, but this sounds like it warrants something more drastic.
Our mission here on the Apple Developer Forums is to help developers create products for Apple platforms. We’re not really set up to help folks with issues like this one.
Share and Enjoy
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Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"