Apple Releases macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 Supplemental Update With Spectre Fix

Apple today released a macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 supplemental update, which comes a little more than a month after the initial release of macOS High Sierra 10.13.2.

macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 is a free update for all customers who have a compatible machine. The update can be downloaded using the Software Update function in the Mac App Store.

macOS High Sierra
macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 addresses the "Spectre" vulnerability that was publicized last week. Spectre, along with its sister vulnerability "Meltdown" are serious hardware-based exploits that take advantage of the speculative execution mechanism of a CPU, allowing hackers to gain access to sensitive information.

While Meltdown was addressed in the initial macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 update, Apple said it would introduce a mitigation for Spectre in macOS and iOS early this week. There is no hardware fix for Spectre, so Apple is addressing the vulnerability using Safari-based software workarounds.

There's also a Safari 11.0.2 update available for macOS Sierra 10.12.6 and OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 that is designed to mitigate the effects of the Spectre vulnerability. Customers running macOS Sierra and OS X El Capitan should download the new version of Safari to make sure their machines are protected.

Related Forum: macOS High Sierra

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Vertical Camera Feature

iPhone SE 4 Production Will Reportedly Begin Ramping Up in October

Tuesday July 23, 2024 2:00 pm PDT by
Following nearly two years of rumors about a fourth-generation iPhone SE, The Information today reported that Apple suppliers are finally planning to begin ramping up mass production of the device in October of this year. If accurate, that timeframe would mean that the next iPhone SE would not be announced alongside the iPhone 16 series in September, as expected. Instead, the report...
iPhone 17 Plus Feature

iPhone 17 Lineup Specs Detail Display Upgrade and New High-End Model

Monday July 22, 2024 4:33 am PDT by
Key details about the overall specifications of the iPhone 17 lineup have been shared by the leaker known as "Ice Universe," clarifying several important aspects of next year's devices. Reports in recent months have converged in agreement that Apple will discontinue the "Plus" iPhone model in 2025 while introducing an all-new iPhone 17 "Slim" model as an even more high-end option sitting...
Generic iPhone 17 Feature With Full Width Dynamic Island

Kuo: Ultra-Thin iPhone 17 to Feature A19 Chip, Single Rear Camera, Semi-Titanium Frame, and More

Wednesday July 24, 2024 9:06 am PDT by
Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today shared alleged specifications for a new ultra-thin iPhone 17 model rumored to launch next year. Kuo expects the device to be equipped with a 6.6-inch display with a current-size Dynamic Island, a standard A19 chip rather than an A19 Pro chip, a single rear camera, and an Apple-designed 5G chip. He also expects the device to have a...
iPhone 16 Pro Sizes Feature

iPhone 16 Series Is Less Than Two Months Away: Everything We Know

Thursday July 25, 2024 5:43 am PDT by
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
icloud private relay outage

iCloud Private Relay Experiencing Outage

Thursday July 25, 2024 3:18 pm PDT by
Apple’s iCloud Private Relay service is down for some users, according to Apple’s System Status page. Apple says that the iCloud Private Relay service may be slow or unavailable. The outage started at 2:34 p.m. Eastern Time, but it does not appear to be affecting all iCloud users. Some impacted users are unable to browse the web without turning iCloud Private Relay off, while others are...

Top Rated Comments

Sheza Avatar
86 months ago
Lol I'm not getting High Sierra. PoS full of bugs and performance issues.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
coolfactor Avatar
86 months ago
A safari-based workaround? Please...
Yah, and other browsers are responsible for their own fixes.

With browsers fixed, Spectre can’t be exploited via a web page.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rudy69 Avatar
86 months ago
Can't wait to see the benchmarks!
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MacGekko Avatar
86 months ago
This video about 3:30 onwards has some good stuff (the stuff prior to 3:30 is about the root bug)



Another example of a graphic glitch:
Except when you read the comments it seems there are logical explanations for this performance and after the new file system is indexed most report their Mac computers running faster on High Sierra.

And a recent video update explained that when the Youtube creator installed the latest High Sierra update, 99 percent of his problems were fixed, what a waste of time.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pwm86 Avatar
86 months ago
Geekbench results for
iMac (27-inch Retina Late 2015)
Pre update:
Single-Core [B]Score [/B]5302 Multi-Core Score 17899
Geekbench 4.2.0 Tryout for Mac OS X x86 (64-bit)
Upload Date November 10 2017 07:52 AM

Post update is better!
Single-Core [B]Score [/B]5310 Multi-Core Score 18162
Geekbench 4.2.0 Tryout for Mac OS X x86 (64-bit)
Upload Date January 08 2018 06:47 PM
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
qawes Avatar
86 months ago
How dare they abandon people with machines more then 8 years old. :rolleyes:
I'm not aware of machines that can support Yosemite and cannot support El Capitan or Sierra.

There are a lot of people that cannot upgrade to High Sierra yet because some gear in the pro audio network isn't yet fully optimised to it, gear that is worth much, much more than a Mac that comes with High Sierra out of the box.

Official compatibility and real world stability are two different things in this world, that's why we stay behind one or two versions.

It is not our personal preference that Apple "has" to release a new version each year and we need to have the latest iMessage or whatever features, we would gladly prefer the strategy that was applied in the Tiger/Leopard/Snow Leopard days. We need security and a rock solid system, that's why we buy Apple products in the first place, right?
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)