Apple fixes bugs in macOS Sequoia that broke some cybersecurity tools

In September, Apple released the new version of its computer operating system macOS 15, also known as Sequoia, which broke the functionality of several cybersecurity products, including those made by CrowdStrike and Microsoft. 

Three weeks later, on Friday, Apple released the first update to macOS 15, and it claims to have fixed those issues. In the macOS 15.0.1 release notes, Apple says that the update “improves compatibility with third-party security software.”

Apple flagged the update in an email to TechCrunch on Thursday, and a spokesperson did not respond to a follow-up asking for more information. 

Patrick Wardle, the founder of macOS and iOS security startup DoubleYou, and a longtime expert on Apple security and the developer of several free security tools for macOS, wrote on X that the macOS update includes “a fix for the networking issues that plagued the initial macOS 15 release.”

“And to any Apple apologist who blamed 3rd-party vendors, you deserve to be slapped with a large trout as this was an Apple bug reported before [golden master],” Wardle wrote, referring to the first public release of the macOS 15 software.

When Apple first released macOS 15, several cybersecurity professionals said they were unable to use some security tools, such as CrowdStrike’s Falcon and Microsoft Defender, because of an apparent bug in the new macOS operating system. 

At the time, CrowdStrike spokesperson Kevin Benacci said that the company was “waiting for a macOS Sequoia update” to provide official support for its cybersecurity products on Apple’s operating system. 

Ugur Koc, a developer who works as a cloud engineer for for cloud managed service provider Glueckkanja, said on X that the new macOS update “resolves the issue with [Microsoft] Defender for Endpoint and other antivirus software, where the network filter was causing issues with the internet connectivity.”

Neither CrowdStrike nor Microsoft responded to a request for comment.