A TEEN hacker is holding Apple to ransom over a dangerous bug in its Mac computer software.

The German tech whizz claims the glitch could expose all your passwords – but he'll only help Apple fix it if they hand him a wad of cash.

If cyber criminals got hold of the bug, they could easily steal the logins for your bank website, Amazon and Netflix accounts, and more.

In an brazen effort to leverage loot from Apple – which is valued at £620billion – Linus Henze, 18, posted a teasing video of his hack to YouTube.

In it, he shows how it's possible for malicious apps to steal passwords from a tool used by Mac computers to store your credentials.

Known as the system keychain, it works like a password manager on one of your web browsers.

Normally an administrator password is needed to view everything stored on keychain, but Linus found a way around this.

In his video, the teenager shows how he can sneakily extract login details from anyone's Apple computer through a bug in MacOS, the operating system used by Macs.

It even works with the newest version of the operating system, macOS Mojave.

But Lindus says he isn't sharing how his exploit works to Apple, or anyone else for that matter.

Lots of big tech companies pay hackers to find flaws in their software, a reward known as a Bug Bounty.

That's because it helps firms to patch up issues with their app or website long before they're exploited by cyber criminals.

Even Apple itself pays bounties to anyone who finds problems with iOS, the software used by iPhones.

But it doesn't hand out cash for MacOS bugs, and Linus says he won't spill the beans on his bug until they do.

"Even if it looks like I'm doing this just for money, this is not my motivation at all in this case," Henze told ZDNet.

"My motivation is to get Apple to create a bug bounty program. I think that this is the best for both Apple and Researchers."

"I really love Apple products, and I want to make them more secure. The best way to make them more secure would be, in my opinion, if Apple creates a bug bounty program – like other big companies already have."

"Ethical" or "white hat" hackers are tech experts who break into software to warn people their gadgets or computers are exposed to cyber criminals.

In December, a home owner captured the creepy moment an ethical hacker spoke directly to him after taking control of the smart security camera in his porch.

A white hat hacker revealed in a WhatsApp demo in 2017 how to take over accounts remotely and read all your private messages.

Do you think Lindus should show Apple how he did it? Let us know in the comments!