There is a critical security flaw in macOS that could be exploited by hackers to install malicious software on vulnerable MacBooks, Macs and other Apple computers.
According to BleepingComputer, the vulnerability was first discovered by a Microsoft security researcher back in July of this year. As Apple patched this vulnerability earlier this month, we are only hearing about it now.
If you haven’t updated your Macbook, iMac, Mac mini or other Apple computers yet, you should do so immediately as hackers often like to target vulnerable machines. Even if you aren’t running macOS 13 yet, Apple has released security patches to address the issue for older versions of its operating system.
The gatekeeper is being bypassed.
Apple ships Gatekeeper and XProtect with every version of macOS, just like Microsoft does with Windows 10 and Windows 11. Gatekeeper makes sure every new piece of software you download for your Mac is verified before it’s installed, but XProtect scans your Mac for malicious software.
When you download a new app for your Mac using a web browser, Apple assigns a special extended attribute to the downloaded file, according to a post from Microsoft Security Threat Intelligence. Gatekeeper uses the.apple.quarantine attribute to let it know that the new app needs to be checked to make sure it’s approved by Apple before it can be installed. If a new app fails this check, macOS tells the user that it can’t be run.
Gatekeeper’s security protections can be bypassed by specially-crafted payloads that exploit the Achilles flaw in macOS. Malicious apps can be installed on a Mac.
According to Microsoft, Apple’s Lockdown Mode may be able to protect targeted users from attacks, but it can’t defend against the more sophisticated attacks.
How to protect your mac from threats.
The image is from Shutterstock.
The first thing you should do to protect your Mac is to update to the latest version as Apple has released a fix for this vulnerability.
You may want to consider installing one of the best Mac security software solutions. Macs have historically been safer than PCs but as more people switch from Windows to macOS, cybercriminals have begun tailoring their malware and other Viruses to target Mac users.
Even though the flaw has been fixed, we will continue to hear about it as attackers look to take advantage of Mac users who didn’t update their systems to defend against it.
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