Apple finally released a macOS Big Sur update, presumably to address the same security vulnerabilities it recently patched in macOS Monterey. The same fixes might arrive for macOS Catalina shortly.
Ed. It appears this update to macOS Big Sur may still be undergoing beta testing. We will update when Apple officially announces the new build is available for public download.
macOS Big Sur Update Patches Two Security Vulnerabilities
Macworld confirmed that macOS Big Sur 11.6.6 is now available on Macs still running the older version of the operating system. The macOS Big Sur update is 2.53 GB. Release notes for the build only say the update is “recommended for all users and improves the security of macOS.”
Apple has not yet updated its security page to include information about the new macOS Big Sur update. As of this writing, the page still listed Big Sur 11.6.5, released on March 14, as the most current version. Meanwhile, for macOS Catalina, the latest entry listed Security Update 2022-03, also released on March 14.
With the brief statement about the release, it is safe to assume that the new release patches the two vulnerabilities that macOS Monterey 12.3.1 also addressed. Apple confirmed that some people might have actively exploited these vulnerabilities.
Clarifying Various Scenarios
The current report stated that a new release of macOS Catalina may come shortly to address the same vulnerabilities. However, it remains unconfirmed whether both or only one of the security vulnerabilities affects Catalina. Until Apple releases a new version of Catalina, we can only hope that the security vulnerabilities do not affect it at all.
In our previous report, we mentioned that one of the vulnerabilities affected macOS Big Sur. However, we couldn’t confirm if the other vulnerability affected the Catalina. Since Apple released macOS Big Sur 11.6.6, it is safe to assume that both vulnerabilities indeed affected macOS Big Sur. If any vulnerabilities still exist within Catalina, Apple needs to patch it immediately.
Better Update Than Be Sorry
That being said, for those who are still running macOS Big Sur, time to update to the latest version 11.6.6. To install the update on your Mac, go to System Preferences > Software Update > Install Now.