Critical patches are waiting for your Mac even if you’re not upgrading to Ventura

While macOS Ventura 13 is now available, there are still many Mac users who are using older versions of macOS, either because they can’t update to the new version or just don’t want to. Apple hasn’t forgotten these users–in fact, on Monday Apple released macOS Big Sur 11.7.1 and macOS Monterey 12.6.1, which include major security updates.

To install the updates, open System Preferences and click on Software Update. You may see an Upgrade Now section telling you to upgrade to macOS Ventura. If you do, click on the “More info” link under the sentence that reads, “Other updates are available.” A new window will appear, listing the update, and you can click Install Now to perform the installation. It will take several minutes and your Mac will need to restart.

macOS Big Sur 11.7.1 release notes

AppleMobileFileIntegrity

Available for: macOS Big Sur

Impact: An app may be able to modify protected parts of the file system

Description: This issue was addressed by removing additional entitlements.

CVE-2022-42825: Mickey Jin (@patch1t)

Ruby

Available for: macOS Big Sur

Impact: A remote user may be able to cause unexpected app termination or arbitrary code execution

Description: A memory corruption issue was addressed by updating Ruby to version 2.6.10.

CVE-2022-28739

Sandbox

Available for: macOS Big Sur

Impact: An app with root privileges may be able to access private information

Description: This issue was addressed with improved data protection.

CVE-2022-32862: an anonymous researcher

macOS Monterey 12.6.1 release notes

The release notes for the macOS Big Sur 12.6.1 update state that it has the same security content as Big Sur 11.7.1, except that the notes contain this addendum:

Additional recognition

Calendar

We would like to acknowledge an anonymous researcher for their assistance.