Apple has today released iOS 18.6.2, iPadOS 18.6.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.6.1; bringing a fix for a security vulnerability that has been actively exploited. Apple has today also released updates for devices on iPadOS 17, macOS 14, and macOS 13.
As reported by MacRumors, iOS 18.6.2, iPadOS 18.6.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.6.1 all contain fixes for a security vulnerability that is known to have been actively exploited:
According to Apple's security support documents, memory corruption could result from devices that were sent a malicious image file.
Apple says that it is aware of a report that the issue "may have been exploited in an extremely sophisticated attack against specific targeted individuals."
Mac Rumors further reports that Apple has also released iPadOS 17.7.10, macOS 14.7.8, and macOS 13.7.8.
As these updates were not distributed to external testers prior to their release, we do not have any information on whether they contain any accessibility fixes for blind, def blind, or low vision users at the time of writing. However, as these updates appear to have been released to address a small number of specific issues, we do not expect them to contain any such fixes.
iOS 18.6.2 and iPadOS 18.6.2 are available via Over-the-Air Update (Settings > General > Software Update) via Finder on a Mac with macOS Catalina or later, or via iTunes on a PC or Mac with macOS Mojave or earlier.
To install macOS Sequoia 15.6.1, choose System Settings from the Apple menu, select General in the table, click Software Update in the scroll area, and click the Update Now button to begin the update process. If other updates are available, you can click the Info button to see details about them and select specific updates to install.
Comments
Good to know
My Macs have been nagging me to update for a while now, and I've been refusing to do it because the hard drive on my ancient AirPort Time Capsule router has finally flatlined so I'm running with no backups, however between risking a most likely harmless software update and the potential of getting all my stuff encrypted for ransom, I think I'll just copy the most important stuff to an external drive and update macOS.
Done
No issues, iPhone 16 pro max.Good download.
Headphone mic issue
Since the update I've had issues with my phone not recognizing the mic in any of my headsets and headphones. I still get the audio through but the mic input defaults to needing the speaker, requiring me to hold my phone to my mouth. I don't know if it's an update thing or if Apple flipped some obscure switch somewhere. Has this happened to anyone else?
Had some problems with AirPods Max on macOS too
For some reason I had to update to macOS 15.6 before updating to macOS 15.6.1, as the option to download and update the latter was simply not available on macOS 15.5, and after I made the update to macOS 15.6, my AirPods Max started intermittently switching between Bluetooth and USB audio, sometimes also pitch shifting everything an octave down without changing the tempo, a problem that remained after updating to macOS 15.6.1. My solution was to reset the AirPods, pair them with the Mac again because there's no microphone in USB audio mode, and the problem stopped manifesting itself. The pitch shift without changing tempo is a weird problem as it doesn't happen naturally without converting the audio to frequency-domain first, changing the frequencies, and converting it back to time-domain for playback, so currently I have no idea how this was even possible.
Magic Retina
Just curious, does this happen to you with OEM Apple EarPods? I am of course referring to the old wired earbuds that used to come with iPhones, that you actually plug into the device. I am a bit old-school, and tend to avoid using Bluetooth as much as possible, so I'm wanting to know if I'm gonna have mic issues on my old EarPods before I make the update on my iPhone.
TIA
Brian
Alas I have no way to test this, I haven't had headphones that plug into my phone while on a call in years. I don't think it would be an issue though since that's hardware and this seems to very much be a software issue. It really just happened out of nowhere for me so I figure either I messed something up in settings somewhere or Apple flipped a switch in a random place and broke things again.
Fair enough
Thank you for the input. :-)
Consider it Done, Well Partially
I just updated my phone and all is well thus far. My Mac has yet to be updated, and I'm wondering if this has anything to do with me being unable to access all new video content for the APH Hive courses I've started taking. I will reach out to the folks at APH if the update doesn't resolve this issue. But I'm finding the Hive to be very accessible on my Mac. Haven't yet checked it out on my phone.