Apple GarageBand strikes a sour note – security update released

Apple’s GarageBand is a program that comes bundled with all Mac computers, allowing users to create their own music and podcasts.

It’s a pretty neat program, and the latest version even includes video tutorials from the likes of Sting, Norah Jones and Sara Bareilles to help you learn how to play different songs.

So far, so safe. But now a security issue has popped its head up.

If you go to the GarageBand support download page you’ll see that there’s a new version of GarageBand out, version 5.1. Apple says that GarageBand 5.1 “addresses general compatibility issues, improves overall stability, and fixes a number of other minor issues.”

What they have been a little shy about mentioning on that page, however, is that a security update has been sneaked in alongside the other improvements to the product.

It appears that GarageBand could change the security preferences on the Safari web browser to allow cookies to be accepted from all sites rather than “Only from sites I visit”….

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley is a veteran of the cybersecurity industry, having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky, or drop him an email.