macOS Big Sur 11.2 Beta 2 Removes Feature Letting Apple Apps Bypass Third-Party Firewalls and VPNs

The older I get the more this might as well be a foreign language

<sigh>

'We have another candidate for our "Is This A Feature Or Is This A Bug?" bingo.'

Ha ha that cracks me up!

It should have always been this way, but I’m pleased Apple is making the appropriately change quickly. Thank you.

The older I get the more this might as well be a foreign language

<sigh>

Apple recently started requiring third party software who want to control network traffic (such as firewalls) to intercept it a different way. They documented and explained the new way, and it's been mostly fine. However, they then exempted some of their own software from this new way.

A security researcher example: they want to observe how an app communicates with the network, how its behavior changes when they limit some of that communication, etc. They weren't able to do that with some of Apple's apps. For example, if App Store or Find My had a security bug related to network communication, they would have a hard time finding out. Not only can they not control the traffic from those services, they can't even see it.

A more general-purpose example: you're on cellular (or some other metered connection), and use an app like Trip Mode to limit data usage. Well, you can't see the data some of Apple's stuff uses. App Store or Software Update download a large update in the background? Trip Mode won't be able to tell you.

There were probably some reasons Apple did all this in the first place (for example, one might argue that macOS needs to be able to download updates to Xprotect malware definitions no matter what), but there's also a fair bit of hubris involved. It feels like once they did decide to make that exemption list, all kinds of software teams internally signed up to be added, and that's just opening the floodgates for trouble.

Anyway, all this, it appears, is now resolved.

Apple allowed to bypass firewalls/security software?

What an unfortunate “bug” this mustve been for Apple before it was found ;)

Excellent news - been aching to move to Big Sur (love the place - LOL) but holding back until VPN's would function there (plus other Objective see tools) - wife is itching to do so for work and will do so as soon as the update to 11.2 is out.

SurfShark is the only brand name VPN I have seen with Silicon support thus far. Nord and PIA are dragging their software heels.