The Internet is abuzz with the shocking revelation that now everyone can hack an Apple computer… as long as it’s using the latest macOS High Sierra operating system. Let us explain what’s going on, and share with you the workaround for the macOS High Sierra root bug.
Updated @ 2017-11-30 : Added a new section on the Apple bug fix (Security Update 2017-001) [1], and additional information on the root bug [2].
Originally posted @ 2017-11-29
What Is Root User?
If you are the primary user of a MacOS X system, you have an administrator account with administrator privileges. This gives you more privileges and access than a standard user account. However, that is not the highest access level possible.
There is a Mac superuser account called “root” that gives you elevated read and write privileges to hidden or protected areas of the system. With the Mac root user account, you can even access files in other user accounts.
In fact, it gives you such God-like powers, you can modify or even delete critical system files. In fact, a Mac root user can use the rm -rf * command to delete the contents of every mounted drive in the computer, until macOS crashes when a crucial file or folder is deleted.
So this Mac root user account should only remain disabled unless you really, REALLY need to use it.
On Tuesday, 28 November 2017, Turkish software developer Lemi Orhan Ergin revealed the macOS High Sierra root bug. With a few simple steps, anyone can gain elevated root user privileges in any computer running macOS High Sierra! Here is a summary of what we know about the root bug :
The root bug exploit requires a computer running macOS High Sierra, with multiple user accounts.
When prompted for a username and password, use these steps to gain root user access without any password :
Type “root” as the username and leave the password field blank.
Just click “Unlock” twice.
The root bug cannot be exploited remotely, unless screen sharing is enabled.
The root bug was introduced in macOS High Sierra 10.13.1. Earlier versions of macOS were not affected.
Apple confirmed that the bug was due to “a logic error… in the validation of credentials“.
Apple also confirmed that the bug would allow an attacker to “bypass administrator authentication without supplying the administrator’s password“.
Several security researchers successfully replicated the bug.
The macOS High Sierra root bug is EXTREMELY serious, because it allows a hacker to easily bypass all of the macOS operating system’s security protections.
It doesn’t matter if you encrypted your computer, and secured it with an extremely long and complex password. Anyone who gains root user privileges using this bug can access (read, copy or move) the files in any user account (even those of an administrator) without knowing the password.
What’s even more troubling is that the root bug works even with a disabled root user account. This means the vast majority of Apple computers running on High Sierra are compromised, as the root user account is disabled by default.
How To Fix The Root Bug?
Unlike other security researchers, Lemi Orhan Ergin did not forewarn Apple before publicly revealing the bug, on Twitter no less. He basically exposed a zero-day vulnerability for hackers to use, while Apple rushes to fix the bug.
1. Install macOS Security Update 2017-001 New!
Apple just released Security Update 2017-001. This update will remove the root bug and improve credential validation. INSTALL THIS UPDATE NOW!
Note : This bug fix will reset and disable the root user account. If you need to use the root user account, you will need to re-enable it, and change its password, after applying the update.
Note : Apple rushed out this update so quickly that they accidentally used a space instead of the version number. You can read more about this in our article – Apple Rushed Out macOS Root Bug Fix & It Shows…
This is not an issue if you are downloading the patch through the App Store. But if you’re applying the patch via Terminal, you need to add a space.
Alternatively, you can opt to move your sensitive data to encrypted containers or drives using third-party encryption utilities like VeraCrypt. Hackers may use the High Sierra root bug to gain access to the encrypted containers or drives, but without the correct password, the actual data won’t be accessible.
4. Physically Protect Your Apple Computer
The good news is the High Sierra root bug generally requires physical access to your Apple computer. Until this bug is fixed, you should make sure your Apple computer is never left unsupervised.
Keep it in a locked room or bag, whenever you are not using it. If no one can get to it, they cannot use the bug to gain root access.
5. Disable Screen Sharing
The High Sierra root bug can be exploited remotely if Screen Sharing is enabled. So make sure you disable Screen Sharing.
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Want to have elevated God-like privileges to your Mac OS X system? Then you need to be a Mac root user. In this guide, we will teach you how to enable the root user account in OS X, change the password, and disable it.
For experienced users or power users, you can use Terminal to quickly make these changes :
If you are the primary user of a MacOS X system, you have an administrator account with administrator privileges. This gives you more privileges and access than a standard user account. However, that is not the highest access level possible.
There is a Mac superuser account called “root” that gives you elevated read and write privileges to hidden or protected areas of the system. With the Mac root user account, you can even access files in other user accounts.
In fact, it gives you such God-like powers, you can modify or even delete critical system files. So this Mac root account should only remain disabled unless you really, REALLY need to use it.
OS X High Sierra currently has a root bug that allows practically root access in a few simple steps. Therefore, Apple advises you to enable the Mac root account, with your own password, until they fix the bug.
How To Enable The Mac Root User / Change Password (Terminal Method)
Requisite : You need to be logged into an administrator account.
Please note this method is used to both enable the root account, and to change its password. The single command line of sudo passwd root both changes its password, while enabling the root account.
Step 1 : Click on the Apple () menu, and select System Preferences.
Step 2 : Click on Utilities, and select Terminal.
Step 3 : Type sudo passwd root and press Enter.
sudo passwd root
Step 4 : You will be asked for your administrator password, not the new root password. Key in your administrator password and hit Enter.
Step 5 : Now key in the new root password, and hit Enter. Then retype the new root password for verification, and hit Enter.
That’s it! You have successfully enabled the Mac root account, with a password of your choice. To use it, you need to log off your administrator account.
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How To Disable The Mac Root User (Terminal Method)
Requisite : You need to be logged into an administrator account.
Step 1 : In Terminal, type dsenableroot -d and press Enter.
dsenableroot -d
Step 2 : Key in your administrator password (not the root user password), and hit Enter.
If you succeed, you will see the notification : ***Successfully disabled root user.
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!
How To Enable The Mac Root User Account (GUI Method)
Requisite : You need to be logged into an administrator account.
Step 1 : Click on the Apple () menu, and select System Preferences.
Step 2 : Click on Users & Groups.
Step 3 : In the Users & Groups screen, click on the lock and key in your administrator name and password.
Step 4 : Click on Login Options.
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Step 5 : Click on the Join… (or Edit…) button next to Network Account Server.
Step 6 : Click on the Open Director Utility… button.
Step 7 : Click on the lock, and key in your administrator name and password.
Step 8 : In the Directory Utility menu bar, select Edit and click on Enable Root User.
Step 9 : Now, key in the password you want, and a second time for verification, and click OK.
That’s it! You have successfully enabled the Mac root user account, with a password of your choice. To use it, you need to log off your administrator account.
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!
How To Change The Mac Root User Password (GUI Method)
Requisite : You need to be logged into an administrator account, and have the root user account enabled.
If you have just enabled the root user account, and are still in the Directory Utility screen, skip ahead to Step 8.
Step 1 : Click on the Apple () menu, and select System Preferences.
Step 2 : Click on Users & Groups.
Step 3 : In the Users & Groups screen, click on the lock and key in your administrator name and password.
Step 4 : Click on Login Options.
Step 5 : Click on the Join… (or Edit…) button next to Network Account Server.
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Step 6 : Click on the Open Director Utility… button.
Step 7 : Click on the lock, and key in your administrator name and password.
Step 8 : In the Directory Utility menu bar, select Edit and click on Change Root Password.
Step 9 : Now, key in the new password you want, and a second time for verification, and click OK.
That’s it! You have successfully changed the Mac root user password. To use it, you need to log off your administrator account.
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!
How To Disable The Mac Root User Account (GUI Method)
Requisite : You need to be logged into an administrator account, and have the root user account enabled.
If you have just enabled the root user account, and are still in the Directory Utility screen, skip ahead to Step 8.
Step 1 : Click on the Apple () menu, and select System Preferences.
Step 2 : Click on Users & Groups.
Step 3 : In the Users & Groups screen, click on the lock and key in your administrator user name and password.
Step 4 : Click on Login Options.
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Step 5 : Click on the Join… (or Edit…) button next to Network Account Server.
Step 6 : Click on the Open Director Utility… button.
Step 7 : Click on the lock, and key in your administrator name and password.
Step 8 : In the Directory Utility menu bar, select Edit and click on Disable Root User.
That’s it! You have successfully disabled the Mac root user account.
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!
The year-end and new year holiday season is upon us! From now until the first few days of 2016, the Internet will be replete with a ton of offers and freebies to celebrate the end of 2015, and a new start to 2016.
Here at Tech ARP, we will be posting some of the best offers and freebies, so check back often! In the meantime, enjoy this freebie – Pixelmator for Mac!
How To Download Pixelmator For Free!
Pixelmator for Mac is a full-featured photo editor for the Mac. It lets you enhance and touch up photos, sketch, draw and paint, add text and shapes, apply dazzling effects, and more. It retails for US$29.99, but you can now download, own and use Pixelmator for FREE!
What was the slogan for the Apple ad campaign we feature on p98?
Think different
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What is the name of the robot arm featured in our Crave section (p19)
Dobot
On p. 59, we recommend the 7 best apps for?
Making movies
On what page will you find the Pixelmator giveaway offer?
77
What $9.99 Boy & Bear album do we recommend in our $50 iTunes Card section on p20?
Limit of Love
What Pixar film do we recommend in our $50 iTunes Card section on p20?
Inside Out
In this issue we’ve reviewed an Olympus camera that looks like a lens on p76. What is the name of the camera?
Olympus Air A01
What Pixar film do we recommend in our $50 iTunes Card section on p20?
Inside Out
Whether you use the spoilers above or not, we strongly suggest you pay Mac|Life back by downloading their free issue.
The Pixelmator Offer Has Been Suspended
Sadly, Pixelmator has suspended the offer, probably due to the overwhelming response.
However, since they did not tie the Pixelmator offer to the Apple Store (it came in the form of a ZIP file download), you will have no problem getting a copy of it from those who managed to download it earlier, or from peer-to-peer sharing networks.
The year-end and new year holiday season is upon us! From now until the first few days of 2016, the Internet will be replete with a ton of offers and freebies to celebrate the end of 2015, and a new start to 2016.
Here at Tech ARP, we will be posting some of the best offers and freebies, so check back often! In the meantime, enjoy this freebie from Creatable and MacPhun Software!
Creatable + MacPhun Design Freebie Bundle
Creatable and MacPhun Software have jointly released a Design Freebie Bundle of 27 resource packs worth $456, but is now FREE to download and use!
The Creatable + MacPhun Design Freebie Bundle consists of the following software :
Focus CK for Mac – $60 value
Simple Icons Set – $50 value
Photoshop Actions by Filterlicious – $24 value
UI Kit for Apple Watch Apps – $29 value
Mac Mockups Set – $18 value
Monobrand iOS UI Kit – $38 value
Lightroom Presets by CreativePresets – $19 value
Retro Jam UI Kit – $19 value
Exeo UI Kit – $35 value
Workspace Hero Images – $12 value
Gradient Presentation Template – $9 value
Royal UI Kit – $9 value
Tech Brochure & Newsletter Template – $23 value
Party Vector Icons – $4 value
Combinations UI Kit – $6 value
Boost UI Kit – $28 value
Winter Watercolor Backgrounds – $8 value
48 Watercolor Backgrounds – $10 value
Artistic Backgrounds – $5 value
Sketch Art Photoshop Action – $5 value
Realistic Painting Action V2 – $5 value
Anaglyph PS Action – $3 value
Creative Design Business Cards – $3 value
Creative Corporate Design Letterhead – $3 value
Quick Paint PS Action – $3 value
Stationery Mockups – $3 value
Christmas Infographics & Illustrations – $20 value
Business Infographics – $5 value
Although some of them are Mac-specific, many of the resources can be used with Windows and Linux PCs.
How To Download The Design Freebie Bundle
Just click here to get to the Creatable + MacPhun Design Freebie Bundle landing page. Once you are there, just click on the Get This Free > link, and this screen will pop-up :
Just key in your email address and click Continue >>
You will receive an email with a secure link to download those resources.
Please note that you only need to do this once, because the offer is for ALL 27 resources. You do not have to “purchase” each free resource individually.
More often then not I get asked what are some of the must-have Mac OS X apps by friends and family members who’s just got their hands on their first Mac. So much so that I had taken the effort to put them up in an article listing exactly that. With the recent release of OS X El Capitan, it’s time for a refresh of my top apps recommendation for the Mac platform again.
I’ve previously written a similar article back on my own blog site in 2013 when OS X 11 was released. In this article, I’ve now refine the list to a set of top 5 apps and the rest in a secondary list. This is by no means that apps are not as great but instead are ones that would depend on personal preference if you need such apps or not. Just as an example, as great Affinity Photo is, not everyone needs a powerful alternative to Apple’s own Photo app.
Ok. enough of this chit-chat. Let’s jump straight into the top 5 apps that you need to have.
Top 5 Must-Have Mac OS X Apps
1. Paragon NTFS for Mac OS X 14
Even when I work in a predominantly Mac user workplace, I still need to deal with a lot of NTFS-formatted external storages. More so if you work in an environment that’s largely Windows dominated. And as you would probably already discovered, OS X by default can only read NTFS formatted drives and not write into it.
Thankfully, the good folks at Paragon Software provides us with an implementation of NTFS support for OS X. The latest version 14 provides full NTFS features and supports the latest OS X El Capitan. This alone makes it the top of the must-have Mac OS X apps list. Paragon Software has also made the installation process a lot easier on this latest release, making it simpler for non-techies to install it.
I’ve been using Paragon Software NTFS for Mac OS X for a long time and it’s really stable! And I would also say that this is a software that’s pretty much mandatory for anyone with a Mac, unless of course you exclusively only work on OS X.
With all the password hacks going around the web, it is time everyone starts using stronger passwords for all your online accounts. Not just a single strong password being re-used, but a unique strong passwords for each online account you have. And if that is to be, then you would need to use a password manager to help you remember all those passwords, unless of course you are one of those unique individual who can simply just remember everything. I’m surely am not, and therefore swears by the use of 1Password for this specific use!
When it comes to password management, 1Password is really in a league of its own. What I like most about 1Password is it’s ability to not just store and manage passwords well, but it’s ability to seamlessly sync the stored passwords across all your iDevices (iPad, iPhones and iPod Touch) via iCloud or Dropbox, as long as you also have the 1Password app on your device. It also stores not just passwords, but also credit card numbers (which is really helpful for all your online shopping needs), software license keys, accounts, and much more!
Generate strong passwords for your logins
And on the latest version of 1Password, it has a mini interface that is accessible with a quick shortcut key that allows you to quickly search the information you need and immediately copy it into the clipboard and allowing you to paste it where you need it to be.
[adrotate banner=”4″]Before, you would only be limited to the browser plugin that helps you automatically login with the stored user id and password, or opening up the full application to gain access to the secured information.
You can even create multiple vaults to be shared across different team or family members for those accounts that are meant to be shared, while keeping your own personal logins accessible just to yourself.
$49.99 and $17.99 may seem steep for an OS X and iOS app, but this amount worth spending so to allow you to start managing (and strengthening) all your online accounts. Getting your password hacked is far more annoying and potentially a costlier affair too!
Alfred is one of the few utility apps that I can’t live without now on my Mac. Essentially, it’s a search utility, working pretty much like Spotlight of OS X. However, it does it in a far more elegant way. It also provides you with the quickest way to launch applications. Find out more about what Alfred can do for you here. The basic version of Alfred is available free on the Mac App Store or from their website as well, which makes it a real no brainer to have it installed on your Mac.
Effortless search with Alfred
But I highly recommend using Alfred with its Powerpack which only costs you £15 as the extra features is really worth the cost! One of the greatest features that the Powerpack includes is the ability to create global shortcut keys that allows you to launch not just apps but also to open a commonly used folder, activate an AppleScript, run system commands, and much more. It also provides a quick file system navigator that’s really handy in many situations.
Extend Alfred with Workflows!
In addition to that, the Powerpack also enables the ability for you to create workflows! You can find many cool examples of the use of Alfred Workflows here. Personally, I use it as a replacement to bash scripts that executes or starts up servers which I would have to do on the terminal.
Starts up a web server and opens up the browser all with a quick keyword
Personally, I think Airmail is the OS X mail app that should have been. I’ve used Airmail from the very early days of its beta releases and now that the app is officially released on the Mac App Store, I’m highly recommending it to anyone who has looked out for an alternative to the default Mail app, especially if your email is based on Google Mail. Airmail is built from ground up to support Gmail natively.
What’s really great about Airmail is its highly responsive interface. It also have a very intuitive user interface which most mail apps have come to adopt since. One thing I like most about Airmail is its awesome support for multiple email accounts, support for a multitude of email services, including support for Exchange, IMAP, POP3, Gmail, Google Apps, iCloud™, Yahoo!, AOL, Outlook.com, Live.com and many other providers with IMAP or POP3 support.
Also, Airmail’s iOS app is on the way and when it is released, it would likely be the first mail app that supports the iOS and OS X Handoff feature.
Uninstalling applications on the Mac is really easy. Unlike Windows which requires an uninstaller to do the job right, on the Mac, you simple would just delete the application. It’s that simple! However, it still does leave some traces on your Mac, in the form of settings and configuration files. If you plan to reinstall the application later on and would like to have all the settings and configurations intact, then that’s fine. However, if you like to wipe it all clean, then AppCleaner does exactly that for you with just a simple drag and drop.
I would basically keep AppCleaner on my dock and simply drag and drop any applications I like to removed on the AppCleaner icon on the dock. The other options is to simple open up AppCleaner, click on Applications (or Widgets or Others) and search for the app in question and then click on “Search”, confirm that you want to delete the app and its related files, then delete them,
As I’ve mentioned earlier, these 5 apps are must haves and I would recommend them to anyone who’s on the OS X platform. The total amount so far is about US$120 (US$97.92 + £15 which is roughly $23.00).
The rest of the must-have Mac OS X Apps
These next set of apps are really great to haves depending on how you use your Mac and the work that you do with it. I’ve decided not to put it up as top apps as not everyone needs to use these apps if there’s no need for it. Read on to find out more about them and see if you too have a need for them as I do.
6. Scroll Reverser
If you use both a mouse with a scroll wheel and the TrackPad with OS X’s natural scrolling direction, Scroll Reverser is the tool for you. The screenshot below shows the exact settings I’m using, specifically to keep using natural scrolling on the trackpad and maintain the expected scrolling direction for mouse’s scroll wheel.
Natural on the Trackpad and “normal” on the mouse scroll wheel
If you find OS X’s Finder lacking, consider trying out PathFinder 7. I’ve written a pretty comprehensive review of PathFinder 7 here in comparison to OS X Yosemite’s Finder. But even when compared with Finder in OS X El Capitan, the points I made in the review is still valid and I continue to use PathFinder 7 today.
8 customisable modules in both the bottom and right shelf
I won’t go deep into the features of PathFinder that makes it my choice of Finder replacement here on this article but here’s a summary of it.
File Operations Queue
Dual-pane view
Bookmarks and Favourites
Configurable Shelves
Highly customisable and a whole bunch of features like…[adrotate banner=”4″]
Calculate file checksums with MD2, MD4, MD5, SHA-1, SHA224, SHA-256, SHA384, and SHA-512
Built-in hex editor
Built-in image editor
Archive files and folders with zip, gzip, bzip, dmg, Stuff, tar, and more
Ability to quickly get the dimensions of an image file and copy the dimensions into the clipboard as the following text: width=”###” height=”###”
If you need a good photo editor that has all the key features you look out for in Adobe Photoshop, but does not really need something as powerful as Photoshop, then Affinity Photo is the editor for you. First thing first, Affinity Photo is REALLY fast. It really is something that you have to use to believe how fluid the controls are. But more importantly, Affinity Photo provides most of the familiar features and capabilities as Photoshop, the industry benchmark for a professional photo editor app.
Affinity Photo also includes a pretty powerful RAW Processing capabilities as well which is very similar to Adobe’s Lightroom. I’ve not yer personally explored the RAW Persona deeply as I continue to use Adobe’s Lightroom for RAW development. But in my limited use of it, I find it as functional as one would expect from a RAW processing app. However, it does lack the rich support for camera color profiles and lens profiles as Adobe has. And because of that, I would likely continue to use Lightroom to develop my RAW files and then edit them in Affinity for post-processing.
Develop your RAW photos with Affinity Photo’s RAW Persona
If you have MacBook with limited SSD storage space, that means you’re more likely to fill it up faster as well. This is where an app like DaisyDisk is really handy.
As you can see form the screenshot, DaisyDisk presents your storage usage in a beautiful flower-like graph which acts as the intuitive visual map of your disk. It also doubles up as an interactive interface where you can discover what’s taking up all that storage space while allowing you to also select and remote the files within the app itself.
So if you find yourself to be running out of space on your Mac, DaisyDisk is the app to use to figure out what you can remove to gain back the space you need.
Just as my recommendation for DaisyDisk, If you use a Mac with limited SSD storage space, any apps that helps you figure out how you can free up files that you don’t need anymore would be very helpful. And with Gemini, it does exactly that by searching your storage for duplicate files.
Gemini does it really fast and elegantly. Due to my highly collaborating work environment where I share a lot of files with my colleagues, there’s bound to be files that are duplicated pretty much all over my MacBook’s storage. Gemini has been a really great tool in helping me find all those duplicated files and allowing me to decide if I would want to delete them. I’ve so far been able to remove about 10+GB worth of storage wastage.
If you use the terminal and work on the command line a lot, then I highly recommend using iTerm 2 as the replacement of OS X’s Terminal. Just check out this list of advanced features of iTerm 2 here and you’ll never go back to Terminal. Trust me.
For all the paranoid in you, Little Snitch is a great app that helps you protect your Mac from the outside world. How it works is quite interesting as it essentially is an anti-firewall, protecting not what’s incoming to your Mac, but what’s going out from your Mac to the Internet. And in some ways, this protects you better than just using a firewall as Little Snitch will prompt you every time an app requires to sent anything out to the Internet, unless you’ve already allowed it to do so permanently.
You can find out more about Little Snitch here. But if you are as paranoid as I am about what’s getting out of your Mac, Little Snitch is a great tool to help you keep that in check.
