Mac patch management involves managing your macOS endpoints by gathering a complete list of all the missing patches through a scan, downloading the missing patches, testing them in non-production machines, and finally rolling them out into the production environment for deployment. Using the Patch Updater tool, it is possible to re-install these patches with one click. To do so, open the Patch Updater application, and select 'View Installed Updates', or use the 'View Show Installed Updates' menu in the Menu Bar. To re-install a patch, simply right-click on it in the list and select 'Re-install'. For example, in May 2018, the latest release of macOS was macOS 10.13 High Sierra. This release is supported with security updates, and the previous releases—macOS 10.12 Sierra and OS X 10.11 El Capitan—were also supported. When Apple releases macOS 10.14, OS X 10.11 El Capitan will very likely no longer be supported.
If your computer seems to be working fine, you may wonder why you should apply a patch. By not applying patches, you might be leaving the door open for malware to come in.
Benefits and key features
Malware will exploit software flaws on your computer in order to do its work. Knowing how to patch your computer automatically while at MIT can prevent major headaches. IS&T can help you set up automatic patches so that you don't even have to think about it.
Features include:
- Security updates for Mac OS and Windows
- New releases of IS&T provided software
- MIT Windows Automatic Update Service (WAUS)
Requirements
Download anti-virus, backup, and security software from the Software Grid, and subscribe to automatic updates. (MIT certificates required)
Getting started
Microsoft
- Turn on the Automatic Updates feature in your Windows operating system. You will be notified of any updates before downloading them or automatically installing them. You set the frequency of notification.
- Subscribe instead to the MIT Windows Automatic Update Service (WAUS) to receive a more conservative selection of the most critical security updates from Microsoft.
Apple
- Mac OS X automatically checks for software updates. Choose a different schedule (set weekly by default) or check manually. If you see an update that you will never use, you can deselect it from the update menu.
Linux
- IS&T provides an update service for Red Hat Enterprise Linux machines. Other Linux systems are not as simple to patch because of the nature of Linux software and its many distributions. Each distribution has a different method of patching. Learn more about the Red Hat Network update service.
Tale of the vampire queen mac os. Learn more about applying patches and OS updates.
Patches (amos) Mac Os Catalina
New versions of software
Check out the software grid to see if new versions of IS&T-supported software have been released.
On January 23, 2018, Apple released a third set of updates for macOS that backported previous Meltdown patches to older versions of the macOS operating system.
Check out the software grid to see if new versions of IS&T-supported software have been released.
On January 23, 2018, Apple released a third set of updates for macOS that backported previous Meltdown patches to older versions of the macOS operating system.
Apple first patched the Meltdown flaw (CVE-2017-5753) on December 6, 2017, with the release of iOS 11.2, macOS 10.13.2, and tvOS 11.2.
Mac Os Download
The company then patched the Spectre flaws (CVE-2017-5753 and CVE-2017-5715) in a separate security update released on January 8, 2018, for macOS High Sierra 10.13.2, iOS 11.2.2, and Safari 11.0.2.
Yesterday, Apple's security team released supplemental security updates for older macOS versions —macOS Sierra 10.12.6 and OS X El Capitan 10.11.6.
These updates backported the company's Meltdown patch, originally released in December 2017.
Many users have criticized Apple for releasing Meltdown and Spectre patches only for recent OS versions. The criticism came from the fact that users had to update the entire OS to receive a critical security fix. In some cases, updating the OS was not an option, meaning many users were left running an insecure OS.
Patches (amos) Mac Os X
While Apple's security team is mum on such issues, many experts now expect the company to backport the Spectre flaw to older macOS versions in a future update as well, and maybe backport the patches for older iOS versions too.
Besides the backported Meltdown patches, the macOS security updates also include a fix for a zero-day released at the end of last year by a security researcher known as S1guza.
Patches (amos) Mac Os X
Apple also released security fixes for other products as well. Please refer to the table below for more details.
Name and information link | Available for | Number of vulnerabilities | Release date |
---|---|---|---|
iTunes 12.7.3 for Windows | Windows 7 and later | 2 | 23 Jan 2018 |
iCloud for Windows 7.3 | Windows 7 and later | 2 | 23 Jan 2018 |
Safari 11.0.3 | OS X El Capitan 10.11.6, macOS Sierra 10.12.6, and macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 | 3 | 23 Jan 2018 |
watchOS 4.2.2 | All Apple Watch models | 12 | 23 Jan 2018 |
iOS 11.2.5 | iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation | 13 | 23 Jan 2018 |
macOS High Sierra 10.13.3, Security Update 2018-001 Sierra, and Security Update 2018-001 El Capitan | macOS High Sierra 10.13.2, macOS Sierra 10.12.6, and OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 | 17 | 23 Jan 2018 |
tvOS 11.2.5 | Apple TV 4K and Apple TV (4th generation) | 12 | 23 Jan 2018 |