macOS Big Sur 11.2 beta 2, released yesterday, eliminates a feature that allowed Apple apps to bypass firewalls, security tools, and third-party VPN apps, according to reports from ZDNet and security researcher Patrick Wardle.
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MacOS Big Sur 11 included a ContentFilterExclusionList that allowed Apple’s to avoid apps like the App Store, Maps, iCloud, and more firewall and VPN apps that users had installed. These apps were unable to filter or inspect traffic for some built-in Apple apps.
Security researchers believed the feature, which was found last October, posed a major security risk as malware could be designed to attach itself to a legitimate Apple app and bypass security software. Users who installed VPNs were also at risk of exposing their real IP address and location to Apple’s apps.
Omg we did it! 🤩 Thanks to feedback from the community (and yes, bad press) Apple has decided to remove the ContentFilterExclusionList (in 11.2 beta 2). Means socket filter firewalls (eg LuLu) can now fully monitor / block all OS traffic !! Read more: https://t.co/GJXkRA31e7 https://t.co/BCPqdCjkV0 – patrick wardle (@patrickwardle) January 13, 2021
Apple told ZDNet last year that the list was temporary and resulted from a series of bugs related to the obsolescence of network kernel extensions in macOS Big Sur. Apple has addressed those bugs and in the second beta of macOS Big Sur released yesterday, the ContentFilterExclusionList has been removed from the macOS code.
When MacOS Big Sur 11.2 sees a release, Apple apps will be compatible with VPN apps and will no longer be able to bypass firewalls and other security tools.