When software developer Lemi Orhan Ergin alerted Apple to the fact that he and his team had that allowed anyone to gain root access to a Mac running macOS High Sierra earlier this week, Apple was quick to respond. Within 24 hours, the company had released a security update that fixed the issue. But now that the dust has settled and the automatic update is rolling out, some Mac owners are questioning how the bug came to be in the first place, and how long it was active until Apple found out about it and addressed it. But now, we appear to have the answer to at least one of those questions. “A week ago the infrastructure staff at the company I work for stumbled on the issue while trying to help one of my colleagues recover access to his local admin account,”. “The staff noticed the issue and used the flaw to recover my colleague’s account. On Nov 23, the staff members informed Apple about it.
They also searched online and saw the issue mentioned in a few places already, even in Apple Developer Forum from Nov 13. It seemed like the issue had been revealed, but Apple had not noticed yet.” The Apple Developer Forum thread that Ergin mentions in his post is fascinating in its own right. The thread actually started on June 8th, when a user who updated to the WWDC beta of macOS High Sierra was trying to figure out why their admin account turned into a standard account. A few users shared potential solutions, while others chimed in to note that they were experiencing the same or similar problems after updating to High Sierra. But then, on November 13th, a user by the name of “chethan177” revived the thread with, suggesting that the bug had been around for at least two weeks by the time Ergin decided to tweet at Apple to inform the company of the issue. Once the bug became public knowledge and every tech blog on the internet began covering it, chethan177 returned to the thread to explain why he had decided to post in the thread and how he discovered the bug in the first place: Hey guys, Didn’t realise this was a full blown security issue. I’d messed my login credentials trying to change my apple id and voila I was no longer an admin.
Home > Mac administration, Mac OS X, Mac OS X Server, macOS > Portable home directories As part of the KBase article, Apple included a Changes coming with macOS Sierra section which featured this note This explains why my login has been useless since rebooting after the last OS update. Mac slow after high sierra update because the new OS requires more resources than the older version. Has your Mac become painfully slow after macOS High Sierra update? Please log in again. The login page will open in a new window. After logging in you can close it and return to this.
Then began my extensive search on all Apple related forums for a solution. Tried everything, didn’t work. As to how I stumbled on this, the answer is simple. Pure frustration.
I’d read on one of the forums where in a user suggested we try using “root” for username and leaving the password field empty. I did, it failed. Out of sheer frustration, I tried again, and voila the. thing unlocked my admin account much to my relief. Then I posted it here assuming someone stuck just like me might find it useful. It was purely accidental. Unfortunately, user chethan177 was unable to find the source of the suggestion to try “root” as the username without inputting a password, even after searching back through his history, so we might never know where it came from.
But regardless, the fact that this exploit had been active for at least two weeks is fairly troubling. We’ve reached out to Apple regarding the forum thread, but have yet to receive a response.
Sponsored Links macOS Sierra has come with a feature called “Optimized Storage” which automatically removes unused files from your Mac and stores them on iCloud. It has been designed to free up storage on your computer.
Using Optimized Storage can help you speed up your Mac. You can download those files from the iCloud when needed.
Click Apple menu → About This Mac. Now, click the Storage tab in the system Information window to have the overview of how much storage you are using on your computer → Click on Manage. Sponsored Links Step #3. Click on Optimize in the Optimize storage section of the window. You have to click on Optimize again to confirm.
Reset SMC and PRAM Reset your System Management Controller (SMC) and Parameter RAM (PRAM) on your computer. Over the time, they might have been corrupted. Resetting them can get the job done.
Reset SMC on MacBook Air, MacBook, MacBook Pro Step #1. Simply power down the Mac, then you need to unplug the power cable.
Now, wait for about 15-20 seconds. Plug the power cord back in. Then, hold down the Left Shift+Option+Control+Power button at once for about 10 seconds. Then, release all the keys. Reset SMC on iMac, Mac Mini Step #1. Simply power down the Mac. Then, unplug the power cable and wait for about 15-20 seconds.
Now, you have to plug the power cord back in. Then, wait for a few seconds and turn on the Mac.
Reset PRAM on Mac Step #1. Starting off, you need to power down the Mac. Turn On the computer after a few seconds.
Then, press these four keys– Option+Command (⌘)+P+R at one go. The gray boot screen will show up.
Keep holding the keys until the Mac has restarted. Other Handy Tricks Tone Down the Display Step #1. Go to Apple Menu → System Preferences. Click on Accessibility. Click on Display → Now, you need to check the box next to Reduce Transparency and Reduce Motion. Clean Up Messages It’s better to keep the Messages app tidy. All those high-resolution GIFs, stickers, emojis and images can cause a huge problem.
Hence, cleaning up the conversation threads or entire Messages app from time to time can be of great help. Don’t Let Unnecessary Files Pile Up It’s very important to keep an eye on the files which are no longer in use. Removing them would be vital for the health of the computer. Make Sure to Keep Your Mac Junk-Free There are numbers of third-party tools like. It’s worth using them as they will never let the junk files pile up and cause the computer to slow down. Make the Most of iCloud Use iCloud to your best advantage. Keep only the files which you require on your computer and store the important ones in iCloud.
I hope these tips are able to resolve the lagging issue on your Mac. Problems like or are not unusual after the update. They can easily be fixed by following some smart tricks.
What has been your overall experience with macOS Sierra? Let us know it in the comments below on,. One more thing, have you tried our?