Security News > 2020 > November > Apple Lets Some of its Big Sur macOS Apps Bypass Firewall and VPNs

Apple is facing the heat for a new feature in macOS Big Sur that allows many of its own apps to bypass firewalls and VPNs, thereby potentially allowing malware to exploit the same shortcoming to access sensitive data stored on users' systems and transmit them to remote servers.

"Some Apple apps bypass some network extensions and VPN Apps," Maxwell tweeted.

Of particular note is the possibility that the bypass can leave macOS systems open to attack, not to mention the inability to limit or block network traffic at users' discretion.

The change in behavior comes as Apple deprecated support for Network Kernel Extensions last year in favor of Network Extensions Framework.

"Previously, a comprehensive macOS firewall could be implemented via Network Kernel Extension," Wardle noted in a tweet back in October.

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