Apple has removed a controversial feature in its macOS operating system that allowed more than 50 of its own apps to completely bypass third-party security tools like firewalls and virtual private networks (VPNs).
The ContentFilterExclusionList, introduced in macOS 11 Big Sur, was flagged by the security community and developers late last year as being a potential security risk. This list’s existence in macOS meant traffic generated from Apple software such as Maps and iCloud couldn’t be blocked by a socket filter firewall.
The developer of the Little Snitch firewall tool, Norbert Heger, described this behaviour as “a hole in the wall”.
Patrick Wardle, a security researcher with software firm Jamf, even demonstrated how it may be possible for malware to abuse “excluded” apps to generate web traffic to bypass firewalls.
Those who initially sounded the alarm, including Heger, Wardle and others, have now welcomed Apple’s decision to remove ContentFilterExclusionList with the release macOS 11.2 beta 2.
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