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.

First Look Big Sur Feature2
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 Forum: macOS Big Sur

Popular Stories

iphone 16 pro ghost hand

5 Reasons to Skip This Year's iPhone 17 Pro

Thursday July 10, 2025 4:54 am PDT by
Apple will launch its new iPhone 17 series in two months, and the iPhone 17 Pro models are expected to get a new design for the rear casing and the camera area. But more significant changes to the lineup are not expected until next year, when the iPhone 18 models arrive. If you're thinking of trading in your iPhone for this year's latest, consider the following features rumored to be coming...
apple tv 4k new orange

New Apple TV Expected Later This Year With These New Features

Saturday July 12, 2025 3:09 pm PDT by
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors. Rumors Faster Wi-Fi Support The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports ...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 16 New Features

Friday July 11, 2025 12:40 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are only two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:A redesigned Dynamic Island: It has been rumored that all iPhone 17 models will have a redesigned Dynamic Island interface — it might ...
macbook pro blue green

M5 MacBook Pro No Longer Coming in 2025

Thursday July 10, 2025 12:38 pm PDT by
Apple does not plan to refresh any Macs with updated M5 chips in 2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Updated MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models are now planned for the first half of 2026. Gurman previously said that Apple would debut the M5 MacBook Pro models in late 2025, but his newest report suggests that Apple is "considering" pushing them back to 2026. Apple is now said to be...
iphone 16 pro pro max

iPhone 17 Pro Models With BOE Displays Will Be Sold in China Only

Thursday July 10, 2025 11:59 pm PDT by
iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models with displays made by BOE will be sold exclusively in China, according to a new report. Last week, it emerged that Chinese display manufacturer BOE was aggressively ramping up its OLED production capacity for future iPhone models as part of a plan to recapture a major role in Apple's supply chain. Now, tech news aggregator Jukan Choi reports...
Apple Watch Ultra 2 Complications

Apple Watch Ultra 3: What to Expect

Sunday July 13, 2025 10:30 am PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 is nearly over, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the Apple Watch Ultra 3:Satellite connectivity for sending and receiving text messages when Wi-Fi and cellular coverage is unavailable 5G support, up from LTE on the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Likely a wide-angle OLED display that ...
apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro

Apple Says iPhone Driver's Licenses Will Expand to These 8 U.S. States

Tuesday July 8, 2025 11:26 am PDT by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. Unfortunately, this feature continues to roll out very slowly since it was announced in 2021, with only nine U.S. states, Puerto Rico,...
iPhone 17 Air Colors Thumb 2

iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air Rumored to Come in These 9 Colors

Friday July 11, 2025 12:30 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air will be available in a total of nine color options, according to new information coming out of Asia. The iPhone 17 Air's expected color options. According to the leaker going by the account name "yeux1122" on the Korean blog Naver, accessory manufacturers are now producing camera protector rings for the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air in colors to match their...

Top Rated Comments

hortod1 Avatar
59 months ago
The older I get the more this might as well be a foreign language

<sigh>
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sideshowuniqueuser Avatar
59 months ago
'We have another candidate for our "Is This A Feature Or Is This A Bug?" bingo.'

Ha ha that cracks me up!
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BWhaler Avatar
59 months ago
It should have always been this way, but I’m pleased Apple is making the appropriately change quickly. Thank you.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
chucker23n1 Avatar
59 months ago

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.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
-BigMac- Avatar
59 months ago
Apple allowed to bypass firewalls/security software?

What an unfortunate “bug” this mustve been for Apple before it was found ;)
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple_Robert Avatar
59 months ago

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.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)