macOS has security measures to prevent malware getting installed on Macs, but researchers say they have found a way around this.
Researchers Talal Haj Bakry and Tommy Mysk say in a blog post that they reported their findings, but Apple is unconcerned. Apple has good reason, but it is still a potential weakness that the researchers believe could and should be fixed.
“A vulnerability in macOS allows an attacker to silently replace the main executable of any application downloaded from the web without requiring elevated privileges,” Bakry and Myst say. “As a result, trusted applications can be made to execute attacker-controlled code without triggering security warnings when relaunched.”
However, as AppleInsider notes, this is, “but it isn’t as big a threat as it sounds.” For one thing, no apps downloaded from the Mac App Store are vulnerable to it. Only ones from websites could be, and even then the researchers say this has to happen:
- The app is downloaded and installed.
- It is launched at least once.
- The user archives the app using .tar.
- The user deletes the original app.
- Then extracts the archive again.
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Article provided with permission from AppleWorld.Today