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.
Is it to be expected that my mid 2011 iMac restarts after downloading 10.13.2 and displaying a ptch black screen for more than 20 minutes already? Initially there was a lot of activity with my two external drives but that stopped. Nothing happends........
On my 2016 MBP15" running the latest Public Beta the update identified itself as "macOS 10.13.2 Update Combo". I have never seen an Update Combo in the App Store before.
This update fixed the problem with sharing APFS volumes via NFS. I've been working around this with an HFS+ disk image since migrating to High Sierra.
For those wanting to update using the 10.13.2 Combo Update, here's the link to Apple -
https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1944?locale=en_US
Otherwise, the "slim" update is available through the Mac App Store.
"Improves compatibility with certain third-party USB audio devices." Yep, this update seems to have banished the horrible ripping/screeching noise that sometimes intruded on audio played through my Audioquest Dragonfly Red DAC since installing macOS High Sierra.
Have the same issue - appeared only when Dragonfly DAC connected through the Apple Thunderbolt Display USB ports. Are there any solution?
Apart from the security fixes, it would be better if they fixed the really serious problems in High Sierra, e.g. the erratic behavior of Spotlight: sometimes it finds files and then it doesn't. Or it finds stuff using a Finder window search but not the CMD-Space shortcut find etc.