Will Apple update Sierra to fix meltdown/spectre?

[NachoSH]

Hi everyone
I know Safari has been updated in Sierra too but is Apple going to update Sierra to fix the other vulnerability? Or must we update to High Sierra if we want to get it fixed?

I have a 2014 5K iMac with i5 (3.5Ghz) and Fusion Drive. Sierra works really well and I'm not sure if I want to upgrade.. Is it worth it?

 

[Patrice Brousseau]

I would wait: I saw by searching on the web that there's a Security Update Developper Beta 2018-001 available for Sierra. Hoping that Apple will issue the patch at the same time High Sierra 10.13.3 is available.

In my case, looking at mixed reports on HS, I prefer to wait.

 

[camelia]

I would wait: I saw by searching on the web that there's a Security Update Developper Beta 2018-001 available for Sierra. Hoping that Apple will issue the patch at the same time High Sierra 10.13.3 is available.

In my case, looking at mixed reports on HS, I prefer to wait.

Could you please share the link where you read this?

Came

 

[Patrice Brousseau]

Could you please share the link where you read this?

Came

https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/7o77v9/apple_confirms_meltdown_and_spectre/

Maybe I'm mistaken and it's not a patch for Meltdown/Spectre but I wouldn't rush to HS.

excerpt:

Pallasknight 5 points il y a 9 jours

I'm on El Cap still (2009 MBP), and I just noticed the "Security Update Public Beta 2018-001" update. Not sure if it's related to this, though.

Also here: https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6977090

excerpt:

by sprnva; Thu Jan 04, 2018 12:26 pm Re: 'Kernel memory leaking' Intel processor -- a serious cpu bug!?!

lnikj wrote:As far as I understand it Meltdown is already patched in High Sierra 10.13.2, but no word on previous OS X versions.

I found a beta Sierra security update last night (2018-001) which presumably addresses this. So I expect 10.11 and 10.12 will get security updates soon.

 

[TonyK]

For my own needs, I'm not willing to go to HS just yet. Sierra on my MBP meets all my needs and there are concerns about some software and the new Apple File System (AFS).

And hopefully they will patch El Capitan as well as my MacPro will not run Sierra or High Sierra.

So far all that has been seen is a re-release of Safari 11.0.2 through the App Store which is explained here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208403

 

[ls1dreams]

For my own needs, I'm not willing to go to HS just yet. Sierra on my MBP meets all my needs and there are concerns about some software and the new Apple File System (AFS).

And hopefully they will patch El Capitan as well as my MacPro will not run Sierra or High Sierra.

So far all that has been seen is a re-release of Safari 11.0.2 through the App Store which is explained here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208403

I'm on very old hardware as well, and am avoiding high sierra because I heard apple file system itself can cause quite a bit of slowdown. Really hoping apple pushes out spectre/meltdown patches for sierra soon.

 

[Patrice Brousseau]

I'm on very old hardware as well, and am avoiding high sierra because I heard apple file system itself can cause quite a bit of slowdown. Really hoping apple pushes out spectre/meltdown patches for sierra soon.

Well, more than a week and no sign of Apple about it... I began to test drive High Sierra on an external USB2 hard drive (slow) but only on my (ahem!) Hackintosh.

My external FireWire audio interface is flagged as unsupported in HS and I use it from time to time on my real MacBook Pro early 2011.

 

[bobbie424242]

Addressed in Security Update 2018-001.

 

[TiggrToo]

Addressed in Security Update 2018-001.

Just to close the loop:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208465

 

[Dangermen]

Great, so they fix spectre and meltdown but they’ve left HUNDREDS of other CVEs totally unaddressed. They fixed your broken window but your roof is caving in. Thanks Apple.

 

[LauraJean]

Why do I not see this update, 2018-001 as available for my Sierra MacBook Air?

Furthermore, when I check for updates, it shows that Safari 11.0.2 is available BUT under "updates installed in last 30 days" it shows Safari 11.0.2 as installed on Jan. 3, 2018, which is true, and "about Safari" confirms it is running 11.0.2.


Later: Research indicates that there were two updates for 11.0.2 and I just ran it again. But I noticed there's an 11.0.3 version, so now there are two invisible updates for my machine.

What a joke, now I am on my other AIR which also runs Sierra. It shows Safari 11.0.3 as available and which I just ran. So this machine does not get a 2nd 11.0.2 update and has only one invisible update, 2018-001.

 

[redleg6]

I've been running the latest update (10.12.6) for several days now on my 2016 MBP with no issues. I too am staying away from HS as there are numerous reports of freezing, slow/sluggish response etc.

 

[TonyK]

HS has APFS and I'm avoiding it until it settles down and Drive Genius works on it.

 

[flowrider]

Why do I not see this update, 2018-001 as available for my Sierra MacBook Air?

It's here:

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1956?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Lou