Page 18 - Patrick Wardle News Today

macOS Big Sur 11.2 Update Released With Bluetooth, External Display Fixes Apple has released the macOS Big Sur 11.2 update along with security patches. By Jagmeet Singh | Updated: 2 February 2021 15:03 IST Photo Credit: Apple Highlights It also addresses issue with saving Apple ProRAW photo edits macOS Big Sur 11.2 debuts over a month after macOS Big Sur 11.1 release Apple has released macOS Big Sur 11.2 for all compatible Mac computers. The new update comes one...

MacOS Big Sur 11.2 beta 2, which was released yesterday, eliminates a feature that allowed Apple apps bypass third-party firewalls, security tools,...

The apps, which had previously been allowed to bypass any third part firewall, will no longer be exempt from installed firewalls.

Image: Markus Spiske Apple has removed a controversial feature from the macOS operating system that allowed 53 of Apples own apps to bypass third-party firewalls, security tools, and VPN apps installed by users for their protection. Known as the  ContentFilterExclusionList, the list was included in macOS 11, also known as Big Sur. The exclusion list included some of Apples biggest apps, like the App Store, Maps, and iCloud, and was physically...

The developer of the Little Snitch firewall tool, Norbert Heger, described this behaviour as “a hole in the wall”. Patrick Wardle, a security researcher with software firm Jamf, even demonstrated how it may be possible for malware to abuse “excluded” apps to generate web traffic to bypass firewalls.  Those who initially sounded the alarm, including Heger, Wardle and others, have now welcomed Apple’s decision to remove ContentFilterExclusionList with the release macOS 11.2 beta 2. The...

The issue dates back to October The presence of the issue was first spotted in October 2020 by several security researchers and later the developers of the apps realized that their security tools weren’t able to inspect the traffic of these apps nor were able to filter these apps. As per ZDNet, security researchers such as Patrick Wardle among others were the first ones to point out this issue and that it was a disaster waiting to happen. The researchers argued that the malware could latch on...

Security researchers lambasted the controversial macOS Big Sur feature for exposing users' sensitive data.

The software essentially exempted Apple's own programs from being routed through its Network Extension Framework, which the company created for third-party security products to monitor and filter network traffic.

The latest beta of macOS Big Sur has reportedly removed the contentious ability for Apple's own apps to bypass firewalls, and hide their network use.

The latest beta of macOS Big Sur has reportedly removed the contentious ability for Apples own apps to bypass firewalls, and hide their network use.