Apple fixes Achilles flaw that bypassed macOS protections. Apple has corrected a serious macOS vulnerability reported by Microsoft researchers: named Achilles, literally Achilles, it was listed by Apple with the code CVE-2022-42821. First reported in July 2022, it was able to bypass not only macOS Gatekeeper protection, but also bypass Apple’s new isolation mode, which adds an extreme and optional layer of protection.
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In a blog post related to the Achilles vulnerability, Microsoft states that “fixes for the vulnerability…were quickly released by Apple,” although it appears these updates were only actually released on December 13, 2022.
Jonathan Bar Or of the Microsoft 365 Defender research team writes in the blog post that “Microsoft has discovered a vulnerability in macOS that can allow attackers to bypass application execution restrictions imposed by Apple’s Gatekeeper security mechanism, designed to ensure only trusted apps run on Mac devices”:
We have developed a proof-of-concept tool to demonstrate the vulnerability, which we call Achilles. Gateway bypasses like this could be leveraged as a vector for initial access by malware and other threats and could help increase the success rate of malicious attacks on macOS
Microsoft security researchers go into detail about the team’s discovery and the access method the attackers could have used if the vulnerability hadn’t been patched. Additionally, the Windows corporation warned that Apple’s new Isolation Mode would not prevent such an attack.
Coincidentally, Apple’s Isolation Mode was unveiled in July 2022, the same month Microsoft discovered the new vulnerability. Intended as an optional and extreme protection system for users facing “serious and targeted threats to their digital security”, it deliberately limits the functionality of the system.
