Apple Admits to ‘Misleading’ Firewall

Jimmy 2004 · Nov 16, 2007

Apple has admitted that the firewall in its new Leopard OS X may be misleading to users, after complaints that the "Block all incoming connections" setting was not all that it was made out to be.

The 'Block all incoming connections' setting for the Application Firewall allows any process running as user "root" (UID 0) to receive incoming connections, and also allows mDNSResponder to receive connections. This could result in the unexpected exposure of network services.

As a result, the company has quickly released a patch to fix this issue, which also fixes a flaw that lets processes running as root through the firewall even if they are added to the list of blocked applications, and an issue which means an application needs to be restarted before changes in firewall settings will take affect for it.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

malware · Nov 16, 2007

Thanks wiak for this useful story.

newtekie1 · Nov 16, 2007

Apple misleading...Never...

FatForester · Nov 16, 2007

Silly Apple... ZoneAlarm FTW!

Ravenas · Nov 16, 2007

Jimmy 2004 said:
Apple has admitted that the firewall in its new Leopard OS X may be misleading to users, after complaints that the “Block all incoming connections” setting was not all that it was made out to be.

As a result, the company has quickly released a patch to fix this issue, which also fixes a flaw that lets processes running as root through the firewall even if they are added to the list of blocked applications, and an issue which means an application needs to be restarted before changes in firewall settings will take affect for it.

Source: ZDNet.com

I think the title of this post is misleading. Your talking about a flaw/bug in a firewall. This is something Apple fixed after users began to notice this. Title should be changed to something more accurate.

b1lk1 · Nov 17, 2007

Ravenas said:
I think the title of this post is misleading. Your talking about a flaw/bug in a firewall. This is something Apple fixed after users began to notice this. Title should be changed to something more accurate.

Yeah, something like:

"Overpriced computer not nearly as safe as we are all expected to believe"

Ravenas · Nov 17, 2007

b1lk1 said:
Yeah, something like:

"Overpriced computer not nearly as safe as we are all expected to believe"

You expected, not I

I've never suspected that any computer connected to the internet is safe

System Name	Jimmy 2004's PC
Processor	S754 AMD Athlon64 3200+ @ 2640MHz
Motherboard	ASUS K8N
Cooling	AC Freezer 64 Pro + Zalman VF1000 + 5x120mm Antec TriCool Case Fans
Memory	1GB Kingston PC3200 (2x512MB)
Video Card(s)	Saphire 256MB X800 GTO @ 450MHz/560MHz (Core/Memory)
Storage	500GB Western Digital SATA II + 80GB Maxtor DiamondMax SATA
Display(s)	Digimate 17" TFT (1280x1024)
Case	Antec P182
Audio Device(s)	Audigy 4 + Creative Inspire T7900 7.1 Speakers
Power Supply	Corsair HX520W
Software	Windows XP Home

Processor	Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 VID: 1.2125
Motherboard	GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3P rev.2.0
Cooling	Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme + Noctua NF-S12 Fan
Memory	4x1 GB PQI DDR2 PC2-6400
Video Card(s)	Colorful iGame Radeon HD 4890 1 GB GDDR5
Storage	2x 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 32 MB RAID0
Display(s)	BenQ G2400W 24-inch WideScreen LCD
Case	Cooler Master COSMOS RC-1000 (sold), Cooler Master HAF-932 (delivered)
Audio Device(s)	Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic + Logitech Z-5500 Digital THX
Power Supply	Chieftec CFT-1000G-DF 1kW
Software	Laptop: Lenovo 3000 N200 C2DT2310/3GB/120GB/GF7300/15.4"/Razer

Processor	Intel Core i7 10850K@5.2GHz
Motherboard	AsRock Z470 Taichi
Cooling	Corsair H115i Pro w/ Noctua NF-A14 Fans
Memory	32GB DDR4-3600
Video Card(s)	RTX 2070 Super
Storage	500GB SX8200 Pro + 8TB with 1TB SSD Cache
Display(s)	Acer Nitro VG280K 4K 28"
Case	Fractal Design Define S
Audio Device(s)	Onboard is good enough for me
Power Supply	eVGA SuperNOVA 1000w G3
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64

Processor	Intel e2180 2.0ghz @ 2.8ghz w/ stock volts
Motherboard	ASUS P5K-e Wifi-AP
Cooling	Zalman 9500 w/ AS5
Memory	G.Skill Black PI's DDR2 @ 896MHz 4-4-4-12 1.9v
Video Card(s)	EVGA 8800GT w/ Zalman VF-900
Storage	2x Crucial C300 64GB, Samsung F3 2TB & 1TB, F1 1TB & 750GB
Display(s)	ASUS VW246H 24" 16:9
Case	Ultra / Chieftec Black Tower
Audio Device(s)	X-fi XtremeMusic -> Z-5300e's
Power Supply	PCP&C 610 Silencer
Software	Windows 7 x64

System Name	AM5
Processor	AMD Ryzen R9 7950X
Motherboard	Asrock X670E Taichi
Cooling	EK AIO Basic 360
Memory	Corsair Vengeance DDR5 5600 64 Gb - XMP1 Profile
Video Card(s)	AMD Reference 7900 XTX 24 Gb
Storage	Samsung Gen 4 980 1 TB / Samsung 8TB SSD
Display(s)	Samsung 34" 240hz 4K
Case	Fractal Define R7
Power Supply	Seasonic PRIME PX-1300, 1300W 80+ Platinum, Full Modular

Apple Admits to ‘Misleading’ Firewall

Jimmy 2004

New Member

malware

New Member

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder

FatForester

New Member

Ravenas

b1lk1

New Member

Ravenas

System Name	Money pit
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Cooling	120.2/Swiftech655/Apogee GT/DD Fillport & res
Memory	OCZ PC3-1333MHZ 2X1GB/Kingston HYPERX PC3-1325MHz
Video Card(s)	Sapphire HD4830
Storage	Seagate 7200.11 1TB
Display(s)	Dell 2209WA
Case	some crap 5 year old generic modded case
Audio Device(s)	X-FI fagtality
Power Supply	PC P&C 510W
Software	Vista Premium 64