Apple rolls out new update to fix major security flaw in its Mac operating system (OS)

The vulnerability was discovered by who found that the Mac log-in screen can be cracked simply by entering the word “root” as a username and hitting enter twice, without having to enter a password.

| Published: Thursday, November 30, 2017, 13:47 [IST]

It was reported a few days back that a bug had been discovered by Turkish developer Lemi Orhan, which allowed anyone to easily break into Apple's Mac operating system's security protections.

Apple rolls out new update to fix major security flaw in MacOS

The developer noted that the bug allowed anyone to access the computer's deepest level which is known as "root" privileges. A user could simply type "root" as a username, leave the password field blank, click "unlock" twice, and immediately gain full access to the computer.

Against such backdrop, Apple has now apologized and rolled out an update to fix the major security flaw in its Mac operating system (OS) that let anyone log into Mac devices running without a password.

"Security is a top priority for every Apple product, and regrettably we stumbled with this release of macOS," The Telegraph quoted an Apple spokesperson as saying. The latest version of MacOS will automatically download the update.

"When our security engineers became aware of the issue Tuesday afternoon, we immediately began working on an update that closes the security hole. The update is available for download, and starting later today it will be automatically installed on all systems running the latest version (10.13.1) of macOS High Sierra," the tech giant added.

The security flaw affected all Mac devices running the latest version of High Sierra (at least version 10.13.1 - 17B48), according to TechCrunch.

Source: IANS