macOS Monterey & macOS Big Sur get security update

By Wesley Hilliard

It isn't just macOS Ventura that got the latest security patches on Monday -- macOS Monterey and macOS Big Sur got them too.

macOS Monterey and macOS Big Sur get new security patches

Three vulnerabilities found in older macOS versions have been patched for users unable or unwilling to update to macOS Ventura. The macOS Monterey 12.6.1 and macOS Big Sur 11.7.1 updates address issues with the AppleMobileFileIntegrity, Ruby, and Sandbox systems.

Notes from Apple's security update page describe the patch vulnerabilities as follows:

AppleMobileFileIntegrity

Available for: macOS Monterey and 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 Monterey and 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 Monterey and 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

An additional credit was provided in the macOS Monterey security notes for a Calendar fix. An anonymous researcher assisted with an unknown bug not addressed in the primary fixes.

Anyone with a Mac unable to update to macOS Ventura that is capable of running macOS Big Sur or macOS Monterey will see these updates. They will install automatically, or users can manually update via System Preferences.