A simple piece of music has been enough to crash laptops in the past. This unlikely scenario almost happened again with the latest versions of Windows. Microsoft had to intervene in time to prevent the worst.
Some computer flaws can seem so absurd that they resemble an urban legend. Yet, in 2022, Microsoft confirmed that a popular song, Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation, was causing crashes on some laptops. The problem stemmed from the song's frequencies, which resonated with 2.5-inch mechanical hard drives spinning at 5,400 revolutions per minute. As a result, they would lock up, causing an immediate system crash. Even from a distance, a simple sound could crash nearby machines. This strange flaw was even officially listed as CVE-2022-38392 by MITRE, a database of known vulnerabilities. To prevent this kind of situation, Microsoft implemented a software patch. It involved filtering certain audio frequencies using a technology called APO, for Audio Processing Objects. These blocked problematic sounds before they reached the affected hardware. Newer hard drives, such as SSDs, are not affected because they do not contain any mechanical parts sensitive to vibrations.
A Windows update risked making PCs vulnerable to the Janet Jackson song again
But recently, a change in Windows briefly threatened to reactivate this old vulnerability. Since Windows 7, Microsoft has offered an option called “Disable all audio enhancements,” which mutes the additional sound effects. The problem: it also disables the filters related to protection against the Rhythm Nation bug. If a user unknowingly disabled these filters, their system would become vulnerable again. The company didn't initially anticipate this interaction in its default audio settings.
Fortunately, Microsoft eventually made an exception in Windows to maintain this protection even when audio enhancements are disabled. Without this measure, computers running Windows 8.1, 10, or even early versions of Windows 11 could have crashed for no apparent reason. The story shows how little-known technical details can cause very real, and sometimes surprising, bugs. It also illustrates the importance of maintaining active protections, even against risks as unexpected as a simple piece of music.
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