First handset with MTE on the market

ARM's Memory Tagging Extensions (MTE) can detect memory corruption exploitation at its earliest point, enhancing diagnostic and security measures. MTE is now available on the Pixel 8/8 Pro handsets, marking a significant advancement in mobile security. MTE can be enabled on the Pixel 8/8 Pro through developer options, but it's crucial to note that it's not an officially supported configuration. Enabling MTE requires modifications to both the bootloader and system to allocate memory for storing tags. To enable MTE, one must activate developer mode and USB debugging on the device. Using a computer with Android debugging tools, specific properties need to be set on the device using the 'adb' command. The properties to be set are 'arm64.memtag.bootctl,' 'persist.arm64.memtag.default,' and 'persist.arm64.memtag.app_default,' all set to 'sync.' A reboot is necessary to apply the changes and activate MTE. While the author has not encountered issues with MTE enabled, it's important to acknowledge the potential for app crashes or malfunctions. This guide provides the steps to enable MTE on Pixel 8/8 Pro devices, but users should proceed with caution and acknowledge the potential risks involved.