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Apple brought in macOS Big Sur as its next-gen operating system last week. The update includes a list of new features for Mac machines. However, macOS Big Sur was also found to include an issue that causes Apple applications to bypass firewalls and virtual private networks (VPNs). This privacy-related issue was initially spotted in a beta version of macOS Big Sur last month. However, Apple did not fix it at the time of public release. Separately, the macOS Big Sur update was reported to some older MacBook Pro models. Apple also responded to privacy concerns raised by some researchers about its Gatekeeper security feature that caused some hiccups last week.
A Twitter user @mxswd initially seen the firewall bypass issue in macOS Big Sur beta last month. The problem was causing the system to bypass firewalls and VPNs when using an Apple application, such as Apple Maps. Was confirmed by security researcher Patrick Wardle.
“Previously, a full macOS firewall could be deployed through the Network Kernel Extension (kext). Apple disapproved of kexts, giving us network extensions … but apparently (many of their apps / daemons bypass this filtering mechanism, ”Wardle noted in a tweet.
The security researcher found that the Mac App Store on macOS Big Sur was bypassing firewalls. The beta issues were detailed by the Apple-focused blog Apple Term.
At the time it was presumed that Apple would fix the problem by releasing the Big Sur update to the general public. However, the company did not make any changes.
Wardle famous in a tweet posted on Sunday that the problem of bypassing firewalls and VPNs still persisted in the stable version and could be abused by malware and impact user security in the latest version of macOS.
Apple has yet to comment on this.
In addition to the problem of bypassing firewalls and VPNs, macOS Big Sur seems to have some issues that are blocking some older MacBook Pro models. As reported by MacRumors, multiple users of late 2013 and mid-2014 13-inch MacBook Pro models are reporting that the latest macOS update is locking up their machines.
Affected users highlighted on Apple Community forums and Reddit that while upgrading to macOS Big Sur, a black screen appeared, eventually crashing the hardware. One of the users said on Apple’s community forums that an engineer was able to boot an affected MacBook Pro after disconnecting its I / O board.
“I’m not sure how Apple will handle this problem, especially since all affected Macs are out of warranty. And I’m not sure they can fix it with a software update as it appears to be a hardware issue that Big Sur caused in some way, ”the user wrote.
Apple is reportedly aware of the issue as it has been escalated to Apple’s support team. However, the company has yet to provide any clarity to users on whether it could solve the problem using a software update.
That said, it is safe for older MacBook Pro users to delay installing macOS Big Sur until the company gives an official answer on the brick issue.
Some users reported last week that macOS Big Sur took hours to download. However, the massive rush in installing the new software update that could be due to the listing of its new features affected users on existing versions of macOS as many of them faced delays in launching applications. The problem was caused by a certificate problem, where the macOS Gatekeeper service was unable to verify the application developer certificate.
Some researchers claimed that the app slowdown was due to a system glitch that allowed macOS to send user data to Apple’s servers. Apple, however, has now provided some clarity on that issue, saying that it has never combined data from Gatekeeper checks with information about its users or their devices.
“We do not use the data from these checks to find out which individual users are launching or running on their devices,” the company said.
Apple also mentioned that it is reviewing the layout of the network request and enabling an opt-out preference for users. These changes, which are to ensure user safety and withstand problems like what happened last week, would take effect during the next year.
Will Apple Silicon Lead to Affordable MacBooks in India? We talked about this on Orbital, our weekly tech podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.
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