Security Fixes Appear in iOS/iPadOS 16.7.2 and 15.8, Plus macOS 13.6.1 and 12.7.1
Alongside the latest updates to its current operating systems (see “Apple Releases iOS 17.1, iPadOS 17.1, macOS 14.1 Sonoma, watchOS 10.1, tvOS 17.1, and HomePod Software 17.1,” 25 October 2023), Apple pushed out security fixes for the last two versions of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.
- iOS 16.7.2 and iPadOS 16.7.2: 16 vulnerabilities fixed
- iOS 15.8 and iPadOS 15.8: 1 vulnerability fixed
- macOS Ventura 13.6.1: 15 vulnerabilities fixed
- macOS Monterey 12.7.1: 11 vulnerabilities fixed
Although it addresses only a single vulnerability (CVE-2023-32434), the most important update may be iOS 15.8 and iPadOS 15.8, available for the Phone 6s, iPhone 7, first-generation iPhone SE, iPad Air 2, fourth-generation iPad mini, and seventh-generation iPod touch.
Oddly, that vulnerability is one Apple supposedly fixed in iOS 15.7.7 and iPadOS 15.7.7 (see “Apple Updates All Active Operating Systems to Block Exploited Security Vulnerabilities,” 21 June 2023). The fact that Apple has taken another crack at it suggests that the first try might not have been effective. Since the vulnerability has been exploited in the wild, Apple should get the fix right, even though it applies only to older devices.
Regardless, none of these security updates appear to be critical for home users—update when you have some spare time.
This fix broke my 1st gen iPad 12.9 WI-FI. I now have to disable “Private WiFi Address.” Now when enabled Wi-Fi 5 band won’t connect at all, and the 2 band drops the connection quickly. I had to disable it.
There was a little strangeness while updating my iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2017) to macOS 13.6.1. During one of its restart passes it put up a circle-slash icon (vs. Apple icon) under which it displayed “support.apple.com/mac/startup” (ruh rho Scooby). After several minutes it proceeded and finally displayed the login screen. On log in things seemed OK but I did another restart just in case, perchance, it started up at the aforementioned URL.