Image: Markus Spiske Apple has removed a controversial feature from the macOS operating system that allowed 53 of Apple's 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 Apple's biggest apps, like the App Store, Maps, and iCloud, and was physically located on disk at: /System/Library/Frameworks/NetworkExtension.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/Info.plist. Its presence was discovered last October by several security researchers and app makers who realized that their security tools weren't able to filter or inspect traffic for some of Apple's applications.