macOS Big Sur 11.2 Beta 2 Removes Feature Letting Apple Apps Bypass Third-Party Firewalls and VPNs
macOS Big Sur 11.2 beta 2, which was released yesterday, eliminates a feature that allowed Apple apps bypass third-party firewalls, security tools, and VPN apps, according to reports from ZDNet and security researcher Patrick Wardle.
macOS Big Sur 11 included a ContentFilterExclusionList that let Apple's apps like the App Store, Maps, iCloud, and more to avoid firewall and VPN apps that users had installed. These apps were not able to filter or inspect traffic for some built-in Apple apps.
Security researchers believed that the feature, found last October, was a major security risk as malware could be designed to latch on to a legitimate Apple app and bypass security software. Users who had VPNs installed also risked exposing their real IP address and location to Apple's apps.
Apple told
ZDNet last year that the list was temporary and the result of a series of bugs related to the deprecation of network kernel extensions in macOS Big Sur. Apple has been addressing those bugs, and in the second beta of macOS Big Sur released yesterday, removed the ContentFilterExclusionList from the macOS code.
When macOS Big Sur 11.2 sees a release, Apple apps will be compatible with VPN apps and will no longer be able to bypass firewalls and other security tools.
Related Stories
Alongside iOS 14.5.1 and watchOS 7.4.1, Apple today also released macOS Big Sur 11.3.1, which the company says "provides important security updates".
According to the full security notes for the release, it addresses a memory corruption issue and an integer overflow in WebKit that could both be exploited using maliciously crafted web content. Apple says it aware of a report that these issues ...
Apple today seeded a second release candidate version of an upcoming macOS Big Sur 11.5 update to developers for testing purposes, with the new update coming one week after the release of the first RC version.
Developers can download the macOS Big Sur 11.5 beta using the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences after installing the proper profile from the Apple ...
Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming macOS Big Sur 11.5 update to developers for testing purposes, with the new beta coming two weeks after the release of the first macOS Big Sur 11.5 beta.
Developers can download the macOS Big Sur 11.5 beta using the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences after installing the proper profile from the Apple...
Apple today released macOS Big Sur 11.5, the fifth major update to the macOS Big Sur operating system that launched in November 2020. macOS Big Sur 11.5 comes two months after the release of macOS Big Sur 11.4.
The new macOS Big Sur 11.5 update can be downloaded for free on all eligible Macs using the Software Update section of System Preferences.
macOS Big Sur...
Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming macOS Big Sur 11.4 update to developers for testing purposes, with the new beta coming two weeks after the release of the first macOS Big Sur 11.4 beta.
Developers can download the macOS Big Sur 11.4 beta using the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences after installing the proper profile from the Apple Developer...
Apple today released macOS Big Sur 11.4, the fourth major update to the macOS Big Sur operating system that launched in November 2020. macOS Big Sur comes one month after the release of macOS Big Sur 11.3, an update that added M1 optimizations, AirTag integration, and more.
The new macOS Big Sur 11.4 update can be downloaded for free on all eligible Macs using the...
Apple today seeded the first public betas of iOS 14.7, iPadOS 14.7, and macOS Big Sur 11.5 to public beta testers, one day after seeding first betas to developers.
Public beta testers who have signed up for the beta testing program can download the iOS and iPadOS 14.7 updates over the air after installing the proper certificate from the Public Beta website on an iOS device. macOS Big Sur...
Apple today released macOS Big Sur 11.5.1, a minor bug fix update that comes close to one week after the launch of macOS Big Sur 11.5.
The new macOS Big Sur 11.5.1 update can be downloaded for free on all eligible Macs using the Software Update section of System Preferences.
According to Apple, macOS Big Sur 11.5.1 brings important security updates and is...
Popular Stories
The European Parliament today voted overwhelmingly in favor of enforcing USB-C as a common charging port across a wide range of consumer electronic devices, including the iPhone and AirPods, by the end of 2024.
The proposal, known as a directive, forces all consumer electronics manufacturers who sell their products in Europe to ensure that a wide range of devices feature a USB-C port. This...
iOS 16 was released to the public three weeks ago with a customizable Lock Screen, the ability to edit iMessages, improvements to Focus modes, and much more. And in the coming months, iPhone and iPad users have even more new features to look forward to.
We've rounded up 10 new features coming to the iPhone and iPad later this year, according to Apple. Many of the features are part of iOS...
Apple is developing new iPad Pro, Mac, and Apple TV models, and at least some of these products will be released in October, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. However, Gurman continues to believe that Apple is unlikely to hold an event this month.
In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Gurman said "the big iPhone 14 unveiling last month was probably it for Apple in 2022 in...
iOS 16.0.2 was released last month with several bug fixes for iPhone 14 issues, excessive copy and paste permission prompts, and more. Now, evidence suggests that Apple is planning to release iOS 16.0.3 with additional bug fixes.
Evidence of an upcoming iOS 16.0.3 software update has shown up in MacRumors analytics logs, which have been a reliable indicator in the past.
There are several...
As of October 1, Apple SIM is no longer available for activating new cellular data plans on supported iPad models, according to an Apple support document.
Introduced in 2014, the Apple SIM was designed to allow iPad users to activate cellular data plans from multiple carriers around the world. Initially, the Apple SIM was a physical nano-SIM card, but it was embedded inside later iPad Pro...
Apple on September 23 officially launched the second-generation version of the AirPods Pro, introducing updated Active Noise Cancellation, Adaptive Transparency, improved sound, and more. Right around the same time, Bose introduced new QuietComfort II earbuds with many similar features, so we thought we'd compare the two to see which has the edge.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for ...
YouTube may make watching videos in 4K quality on the platform exclusive to only YouTube Premium subscribers, according to screenshots posted by users on Twitter and Reddit.
On Reddit (1,2) and Twitter, some users have started to recently notice that on iOS, and presumably across other platforms also, YouTube is now saying that in order to watch videos in 4K, the user must be a paying...
In a new interview, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, and Apple's vice president of human interface design, Alan Dye, sat down to discuss the thinking behind the iPhone 14 Pro's Dynamic Island and how it was developed.
During the interview with the Japanese magazine Axis, Federighi, who oversees the development of iOS, said Dynamic Island represents the...
Top Rated Comments
<sigh>
Ha ha that cracks me up!
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.
What an unfortunate “bug” this mustve been for Apple before it was found ;)