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macOS 10.13.2 Fixes Obscure Bugs and Security Vulnerabilities

Hot on the heels of Security Update 2017-001, an emergency update Apple published to address an embarrassing security vulnerability (see “Apple Pushes Updates to Block the Root Vulnerability Bug,” 30 November 2017), the company has released macOS High Sierra 10.13.2, which appears to be just a minor maintenance update. You can install the 1.66 GB update via Software Update. Apple also offers a standalone updater for Macs running 10.13.1 (2.08 GB) and a combo updater for any version of High Sierra (3.02 GB).

After last week’s emergency updates, 10.13.2’s sparse release notes are a relief:

  • Improves compatibility with certain third-party USB audio devices
  • Improves VoiceOver navigation when viewing PDF documents in Preview
  • Improves compatibility of Braille displays with Mail

It also features the following enterprise fixes and improvements:

  • Improves performance when using credentials stored in the keychain to access SharePoint Web sites that use NTLM authentication
  • Resolves an issue that prevented the Mac App Store and other processes invoked by Launch Daemons from working on networks that use proxy information defined in a PAC file
  • If you change your Active Directory user password outside of Users & Groups preferences, the new password can now be used to unlock your FileVault volume (previously, only the old password would unlock the volume)
  • Improves compatibility with SMB home directories when the share point contains a dollar sign in its name

macOS 10.13.2 also features 20 security fixes, a few of which look moderately important.

When should you update to macOS 10.13.2? From a functionality standpoint, most people won’t have a burning need to install it right away, and given Apple’s recent quality control stumbles, we wouldn’t be shocked to hear of some system-shattering bug in this release. But, as always, there are some security fixes that everyone should have, so wait a few days to see if early adopters report any ill effects and then update. All that said, it seems to be working fine where we’ve installed it.

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