New macOS High Sierra Password Flaw Discovered

Last year some of you might recall that Apple’s macOS High Sierra had a security flaw/bug which allowed users to gain admin access without the need for a password. Thankfully Apple was quick in issuing an update that fixed the problem, but now it appears that a new password bug has appeared.

This was discovered in a bug report submitted on Open Radar (via MacRumors) in which it reveals that in the current version of macOS High Sierra, users are able to unlock the App Store menu in System Preferences without the need for a password (usually admin access is required), or rather users can enter any password (it can be nonsense) and it will still unlock.

It seems that this issue is limited to the App Store section in System Preferences, meaning that it isn’t as widespread as the previous bug. However it is still a security flaw at the end of the day, but the good news is that Apple claims to have fixed the issue in the latest beta of macOS 10.13.3 which has yet to be released to the public.

In a statement issued by the Cupertino company, “We greatly regret this error and we apologize to all Mac users, both for releasing with this vulnerability and for the concern it has caused. Our customers deserve better. We are auditing our development processes to help prevent this from happening again.” Apple has recently come under fire for a series of bugs in their software, some of which should never have been present in the first place, which Apple had previously chalked up to a “bad week”.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Computers
Tags: macOS, Security