Apple just rushed out macOS Big Sur 11.2.3, iOS 14.4.1, iPadOS 14.4.1 and Safari 14.0.3 to patch a critical security bug.
Find out what they fix, and why you need to update your MacBook, iPhone and iPad right away!
Apple Rushes Out macOS, iOS, iPadOS, Safari Critical Bug Fixes!
Released on 8 March 2021, macOS Big Sur 11.2.3 patches only one bug, which may mislead users into thinking that it’s not very important.
WebKit
Available for: macOS Big Sur
Impact: Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to arbitrary code execution
Description: A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved validation.
CVE-2021-1844: Clément Lecigne of Google’s Threat Analysis Group, Alison Huffman of Microsoft Browser Vulnerability Research
On the same day, Apple also released iOS 14.4.1 and iPadOS 14.4.1 – both patching the same CVE-2021-1844 vulnerability.
WebKit
Available for: iPhone 6s and later, iPad Air 2 and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch (7th generation)
Impact: Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to arbitrary code execution
Description: A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved validation.
CVE-2021-1844: Clément Lecigne of Google’s Threat Analysis Group, Alison Huffman of Microsoft Browser Vulnerability Research
Apple also released Safari 14.0.3, which patches the same vulnerability for macOS Catalina and macOS Mojave :
WebKit
Available for: macOS Catalina and macOS Mojave
Impact: Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to arbitrary code execution
Description: A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved validation.
CVE-2021-1844: Clément Lecigne of Google’s Threat Analysis Group, Alison Huffman of Microsoft Browser Vulnerability Research
Why Install These macOS, iOS, iPadOS, Safari Bug Fixes ASAP?
While they appear to only patch WebKit in macOS Big Sur, iOS, iPadOS and Safari, they are CRITICAL bug fixes that you need to install right away.
They patch the new CVE-2021-1844 vulnerability, which was discovered by Clément Lecigne of Google’s Threat Analysis Group and Alison Huffman of Microsoft Browser Vulnerability Research.
This vulnerability allows a remote attacker to trigger a buffer overflow when the victim opens a specially-crafted web page, allowing the attacker to execute arbitrary code on the target system.
It is not known if this vulnerability has been exploited yet, but it is critical to install the new updates to prevent that from happening.
If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
Make sure you check for incompatible apps before you upgrade to macOS Catalina, because it no longer supports 32-bit apps!
Let’s take a look at the full list of 235 incompatible apps that the macOS Catalina installer has been programmed to look for.
Why Are These Apps Incompatible With macOS Catalina?
While many developers have transitioned their software to 64-bit versions over the years, there are still many 32-bit apps out there.
After all, not everyone is able or willing to upgrade to the latest version of any software. There are plenty of people who are happy to stick with the software they purchased years ago.
However, macOS Catalina is the first macOS operating system to drop all support for 32-bit apps, rendering all those apps incompatible.
There is no workaround – they will not work with macOS Catalina, period.
What If My App Is In The macOS Catalina Incompatible List?
If an app you are using is listed above, then it is a 32-bit app that will not work with macOS Catalina.
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You have two options at this point :
a) if you want to use macOS Catalina – you will need to uninstall that app, and replace it with a 64-bit alternative
b) if you want to continue using the app – then you should NOT upgrade to macOS Catalina. Just stick to macOS Mojave or earlier, and you will do just fine.
Check Your Other Apps Before Upgrading To Catalina!
It would be wise not to just rely on the list of incompatible apps that macOS Catalina recognises, because it is just a partial list of all the 32-bit apps that are still being used worldwide.
The Full List Of 235 Apps Incompatible With macOS Catalina
Hidden in the macOS Catalina’s installer code is a list of 235 apps that Apple has identified to be incompatible.
Please note that this is not an exhaustive list, and mainly covers popular software that Apple will highlight as incompatible during the upgrade process.
10.5 Software Update or earlier
1Password 2.12.1 or earlier
3D Weather Globe / 3D Weather Globe Deluxe Edition / 3D Weather Globe 2 Screensaver
3ivx 504 or earlier
ADmitMac 9.0.1 or earlier
Adobe Creative Cloud 1.0.x or earlier
Adobe Creative Cloud 1.1.x or earlier
AirDisplay 1.6.3 or earlier
AJA 12.2.1 or earlier
AJA Io HD Driver 6.0.3 or earlier
Antidote HD 7.2 or earlier
Antidote HD 3.1.6 or earlier
Antidote RX
App Tamer 2.0.5 or earlier
Apple Configurator 1.9.9 or earlier
Asepsis
AT&T Laptop Connect Card 1.0.4 or earlier
AT&T Laptop Connect Card 1.0.5 or earlier
AT&T Laptop Connect Card 1.10.0 or earlier
Avast! 1.0.1 or earlier
Avast Mac Security 10.14 or earlier
Avid CoreAudio Plugin 12.1.0.x or earlier
Bark 1.1 or earlier
Bark 1.0.1 or earlier
Belkin Router Monitor
Best Youtube Downloader
Billings Pro 1.6.5 or earlier
Box Sync 4.0.6567 or earlier
Camouflage 2.0 or earlier
Canon UFRII 2.25 or earlier
Canon UFRII 2.35 or earlier
cDock 1.1.3 or earlier
CHUD
Clusters 1.7 or earlier
CosmoPod 4.5.1 or earlier
DAVE 12.0.1 or earlier
Default Folder X 4.3.10 or earlier
Disk for iPhone
DisplayLink 1.9 or earlier
DisplayPad 5 or earlier
DisplayPad 1.4 or earlier
DivX 1.3 or earlier
DoubleCommand 1.6.9 or earlier
Dropbox 1.1.34 or earlier
eID 4.0.7 or earlier
ESET Cyber Security 6.0.14 or earlier
FastCut Threshold Plugin 1.0 or earlier
Flip4Mac 3.0 or earlier
FortiClient 5.4.0.493 or earlier
FinderPop 2.4.9 or earlier
Final Cut Server Preference 1.5.2 or earlier
Genieo 2.0 or earlier
GlimmerBlocker 1.4.12 or earlier
Glims 1.0b34 or earlier
Glims 1.0.42 or earlier
Google Japanese IM 1.13.1880 or earlier
GPG Mail 2.5.1 or earlier
Growl 1.2.2 or earlier
Gutenprint 5.2.10 or earlier
Hear Plugin 1.0.4 or earlier
Hear Plugin 1.0.5 or earlier
Hear Plugin 1.1.4 or earlier
InstantOn 7.2.1 or earlier
iStat Menus 2.9 or earlier
iStat Menus 4.20 or earlier
iStat Menus 5.10 or earlier
iStat Server 2.21 or earlier
Kaspersky Antivirus 2.2.0d16 or earlier
Kanbox 1.1.2.x or earlier
Kanbox 1.1.1 or earlier
KeyMagic 1.5 or earlier
KinemeCore 0.5.1 or earlier
LabTech Agent 1.0 or earlier
LaCie USB 3.0 Driver 1.0.8 or earlier
launch2net Drivers 2.13.0 or earlier
LazyMouse 2.5 or earlier
Litecoin Ticker 1.337 or earlier
Little Snitch 1.2.64 or earlier
Little Snitch 2.5.3 or earlier
Little Snitch 3.3 or earlier
Line6 TonePort Driver 4.1.0 or earlier
Logitech Control Center 3.9.4 or earlier
M-Audio Driver 1.10.1 or earlier
M-Audio Driver 2.3.1 or earlier
Macspoofer 1.0 or earlier
Magican 1.4.8 or earlier
McAfee Internet Security 3.3 or earlier
McAfee Security 1.0.0d1 or earlier
McAfee VirusScan 8.6 or earlier
Mou 0.8.7 or earlier
Move Media Player
MyBook RAID Manager 1.0.1 or earlier
Net Nanny 3.1.7 or earlier
Norton AntiVirus
Norton Internet Security 5.9.1 or earlier
Opswat Gears 10.2.185 or earlier
Parallels 2.5 or earlier
Parallels 7.0.15094 or earlier
Parallels Access 2.0.0 or earlier
Pen Tablet Preference 5.3.3-3
Plaxo 1.0 or earlier
Plaxo 3.16.2 or earlier
Plaxo 3.0 or earlier
Printopia 2.1.10 or earlier
Pro Tools 9.0f121 or earlier
Qmaster Components
Qmaster Preference 3.5 or earlier
QT Desktop Video Out 1.2.7 or earlier
QuickBooks 2009 10.0f2440 or earlier
QuickBooks 2010 11.0f2972 or earlier
QuickBooks 2011 12.0f5460 or earlier
QuickBooks 2012 13.0.f7630 or earlier
QuickBooks 2013 14.0f10166 or earlier
QuickBooks 2014 15.0f2630 or earlier
QuickBooks 2015 16.0.6 or earlier
Quicken Essentials 1.7.4 or earlier
QQ Input 2.8.999 or earlier
QQ Mac Manager 2.4.0 or earlier
Rapport 1.0 or earlier
Rapport 2.0 or earlier
Razer Kraken Audio Plugin 1.04 or earlier
Razer Kraken 7.1 Audio Plugin 1.02 or earlier
Razer Kraken 7.1 Chroma Audio Plugin 1.04 or earlier
Razer Kraken 7.1 Blue Audio Plugin 1.03 or earlier
Razer Kraken 7.1 v2 Audio Plugin 1.1 or earlier
Razer Mamba 2012 1.07 or earlier
Razer ManOWar Audio Plugin 1.2 or earlier
Rubbernet 1.2 or earlier
Screen Sharing 1.4 or earlier
Seagate Maxtor NotificationExec 4.1.6 or earlier
SecureVault LexarFilter 2.2.0 or earlier
Shake 4.10 or earlier
Smith Micro Internet Cleanup 5.0.4 or earlier
Smith Micro Internet Cleanup 5.1.1 or earlier
SMS Widget 3.4 or earlier
Snapz Pro X 4.0.0 or earlier
Sogou IM 2.9.0 or earlier
Sonner Qio 2.7.1 or earlier
Sophos AntiVirus 7.2.0 or earlier
Sophos AntiVirus 9.4.4 or earlier
Sophos Auto Update 7.3.4 or earlier
Sophos Endpoint 9.5.2 or earlier
Sophos Home 9.4.4 or earlier
Sound Bunny 1.0.1 or earlier
Sound Control 2.2.3 or earlier
SourceTree 1.5.6 or earlier
Sony Palm 6 Sync Driver 2.0.1 or earlier
SRS iWOW 3.1.x or earlier
SRS iWOW 3.0.x or earlier
SugarSync Manager 1.9.26 or earlier
Suitcase Fusion 17.0.0 or earlier
SugarSync 1.0 or earlier
SugarSync 1.0.9 or earlier
Switcher Maestro
SuperDrive Update 2.1 or earlier
Symantec Endpoint Protection 12.1.6565 or earlier
Synergy KM 1.0.1 or earlier
Sxs Memory Card Driver 1.0.45049 or earlier
TabExpose 2.3 or earlier
TelldusCenter 2.1.1 or earlier
TorchUpdated 25.0 or earlier
TotalFinder 1.6.2 or earlier
TotalSpaces 1.2.9 or earlier
Transmit 4.1.7 or earlier
Trend Smart Surfing 1.6.1089 or earlier
Trim Enabler 3.2.4 or earlier
Trusteer Endpoint Protection 1609.22 or earlier
Undercover 5.5 or earlier
VirusBarrier 10.6.12 or earlier
Visor 2.2 or earlier
Videobox TAAVPlugin 2.3T or earlier
Virtru 1.0.2 or earlier
Vodafone v2.0.6 or earlier
VMWare Fusion 3.1.4 or earlier
VMWare Fusion 4.1.1 or earlier
Wacom 6.3.8-2 or earlier
WD Drive Manager 2.2.7 or earlier
WD SmartWare 2.1.x or earlier
WD SmartWare 1.0.x or earlier
WebEx Outlook Plugin 32.5.1 or earlier
XtraFinder 0.25.4 or earlier
ZEV0 2012.09.23 or earlier
The list was consolidated somewhat, combining minor revisions for the same software.
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
macOS Catalina (or macOS version 10.15) is coming in October 2019, bringing with it a slew of really nice improvements and new features.
However, unlike earlier macOS releases – you need to prepare for macOS Catalina, or you could run into trouble right after the upgrade!
macOS Catalina Requirements
Before we start, make sure you have one of these systems – macOS Catalina will only run on these Mac computers.
iMac Pro : All models
iMac : Late 2012 or newer
Mac Pro : Late 2013 or newer
Mac mini : Late 2012 or newer
MacBook Pro : Mid 2012 or newer
MacBook : Early 2015 or newer
MacBook Air : Mid 2012 or newer
macOS Catalina – Don’t Upgrade Until You Do This First!
Unlike earlier versions of macOS, Catalina drops support for 32-bit apps. Therefore, you must check if you are still using any 32-bit apps before you upgrade.
Here is a step-by-step guide on how to check for 32-bit apps in macOS :
Click on the Apple icon on the top left of the task bar.
Select About This Mac from the pull-down list.
In the Overview screen, click on the System Report… button.
When System Report loads, select Software > Applications from the column on the left.
It will now take a minute or two to scan all of your apps.
Once it loads, you can scroll through all of your apps to look for any that have their 64-Bit (Intel) status marked No.
However, an EASIER method is to locate the 64-Bit (Intel) column, and click on it to list all those marked No at the top.As you can see, quite a number of applications, including those used to setup the actual apps, are still 32-bit apps.
Now, you need to uninstall all those 32-bit apps and replace them with 64-bit versions. Otherwise, they will all fail to work once you upgrade to Catalina!
Why Do You Need To Run This Check Again?
You need to find out what 32-bit apps you are still running, because they will NOT work after you install macOS Catalina.
You will need to upgrade these 32-bit apps with newer 64-bit versions, BEFORE you upgrade to macOS Catalina.
Can’t I Upgrade My Apps After I Upgrade To macOS Catalina?
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It is possible to remove your 32-bit apps and install their 64-bit versions after upgrading to macOS Catalina.
However, you may have trouble removing all of the older components, if the old 32-bit app used an installer.
So we highly recommend that you uninstall all 32-bit apps, and install their 64-bit versions… BEFORE you upgrade to macOS Catalina.
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!