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421: Scandinavian Skies

Security patches and issues, lots of updates, and MacSysAdmin!

421: Scandinavian Skies

This week we got security patches for most of the Apple platforms and Creative Studio app updates, as well as many updates for other Mac Admin tools.

iMazing Business: tools and automations to backup, supervise, enroll, and configure fleets of Apple devices from both Mac and PC.

This issue of MacAdmins.news is brought to you by iMazing Business: tools and automations to backup, supervise, enroll, and configure fleets of Apple devices from both Mac and PC.

The iMazing Business software suite includes: ~iMazing Configurator~ - apply blueprints for supervision, MDM enrollment, app management and backups; ~iMazing CLI~ - automate every function available in the UI; ~iMazing Profile Editor~ - author and sign profiles using the largest catalog of settings for Apple platforms and ecosystem apps.

Discover more: imazing.com/business

Scandinavian Skies

I was at MacSysAdmin conference this week, where I had the honor of presenting earlier this week. Because of this, just a brief intro and many greetings from Gothenburg!

📰 News and Opinion

Save the Date: Mac Admins Slack is Moving to Enterprise Grid!

Diego Iaconelli, Mac Admins Foundation:

The Mac Admins Slack is migrating from Business+ to Enterprise Grid. The migration will begin on Saturday 10 October 2026 at 03:30 UTC. […]
Slack estimates 18 hours of hard downtime for the migration

Go outside and smell some roses or touch grass or whatever you would rather be doing on a week-end!

Jamf Levels Up to Visionary Sponsor, Expanding Support for Mac Admins Foundation Conference Grants

Jamf, a founding sponsor of the Mac Admins Foundation (MAF), has expanded its support to the Visionary level, the Foundation’s highest sponsorship tier.

⚙️ Apple Updates

macOS

iOS and iPadOS

Other Platforms

  • visionOS 27.0.1: About, no security notes
  • watchOS 27.0.1 (“All models”): About, no security notes

Creator Studio Apps

Community

Update your iPhone, iPad, or Mac: Flaw could run attackers’ code

Malwarebytes:

fix a flaw that could let an attacker run code when a device processes a malicious file.

Apple Filing Protocol removed from macOS Golden Gate

Rich Trouton:

One of the less documented changes to macOS Golden Gate is the removal of Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) as a supported network protocol.

🔐 Security and Privacy

CloudSyncD: macOS backdoor hidden in a fake Zoom installer

Thijs Xhaflaire, Jamf Threat Labs:

Jamf Threat Labs uncovers CloudSyncD, a fake Zoom installer disguised as a legitimate application that uses a phished login password to launch an embedded backdoor while concealing the credential inside a decoy configuration file.

Copying macOS login keychains to different Macs on macOS Tahoe 26.4 and later

Rich Trouton:

To follow up on this topic, Apple has now provided information on how to backup keychain files as part of its developer tech note TN3137.

How to copy login keychains that can be unlocked

Howard Oakley:

Over the last few weeks, it has become clear that macOS Tahoe 26.4 changed access to login keychains

Side-Channel Leakage from the File-Notification System on Linux, Android, Windows, and macOS

File-notification systems tell applications when files change, e.g., opened, closed, written, deleted. With only read permission on a file or directory, an attacker can watch these notifications and reconstruct user behavior.

🔨 Support and Tutorials

Intune pricing: What your bundled MDM is actually costing you

Nathan Sparks, The Iru Blog:

It came bundled with your E3 or E5 agreement. It was a free line item sitting next to the productivity suite your org/company actually signed up for. So you started using it, because that's what "free" does: becomes the default before anyone really evaluates it.

How does APFS handle encryption keys?

Howard Oakley:

APFS volumes can be protected by encryption in several different ways, which can lead to confusion.

🤖 Scripting and Automation

Can we detect the apps that will block an overnight Software Update?

Graham R. Pugh:

macOS update notifications warn that apps may block a scheduled update, but don't identify which ones.

Jamf Pro Script Security Issues (Part 1)

The Terminal Blogger:

Throughout my future blog posts, I am going to explore some different options for scenarios such as this. I don’t know that there is a fully secure method, but there are better and worse ways of dealing with this issue.

♻️ Updates and Releases

Gentilhomme

A native macOS viewer for man pages, rendered as rich, readable, linked documents.

🎧 Listen

Solving the patch management problem for Apple admins

Apple @ Work:

David Aclandjoins the show to introduce Orchard. Orchard continuously enforces macOS updates, application updates, and security settings to keep devices compliant and audit-ready.

Best Of CCP: Backblaze to the Future & Proofpoint Pandemonium

Command Control Power

🎈 Just For Fun

A History of iPhone Invites

Basic Apple Guy:

I wanted to document the history of these events, from the slogans to the invites to what was announced.

Fifteen years later, the Apple Cards origin story

Lex on Tech:

In 2011, Apple released the Cards app. The app — which required iOS 5 — let you design custom letterpress cards, with your messages and photos printed upon them — which Apple would ship to your recipient on your behalf. I recently learned the origin story of Cards

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