Apple Releases Safari 15.6.1 for macOS Big Sur and macOS Catalina With Important Security Fix

Thursday August 18, 2022 11:15 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

Apple today released Safari version 15.6.1 for the older macOS Big Sur and macOS Catalina operating systems. The update includes an important security fix for a WebKit vulnerability that could lead to arbitrary code execution, according to Apple.

Apple said it is aware of a report that the WebKit vulnerability may have been actively exploited, so updating Safari is highly recommended.

Apple released macOS Monterey 12.5.1, iOS 15.6.1, and iPadOS 15.6.1 yesterday with fixes for both WebKit and kernel vulnerabilities. As noted by Mr. Macintosh on Twitter, a fix for the kernel-related vulnerability has yet to be released for macOS Big Sur or macOS Catalina, but it's unclear if that vulnerability affects those operating systems.

Tag: Safari

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Top Rated Comments

glsillygili

55 months ago

I wish Apple would make Safari on iOS a standalone app so it can be updated independently of iOS

Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Shh

55 months ago

I wish Apple would make Safari on iOS a standalone app so it can be updated independently of iOS

All of their apps should be that way like it is on Android.

Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)

hagar

55 months ago

Exactly. Shutting the whole system down for an hour to update some minor chunk of code in Safari is atrocious design.

An hour? This latest update took 5 minutes.

Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Phantom iCloud tabs

55 months ago

I thought theoretically they had separated most of the core apps, but I still don’t recall ever seeing an update for them outside of a full OS release or point release.

And yet they still choose certain apps that can’t be uninstalled. On the iPhone I can’t think of anything that can’t be uninstalled except maybe App Store itself, but on watch and Mac ironically News for example is there to stay, like it or not.

Exactly. Shutting the whole system down for an hour to update some minor chunk of code in Safari is atrocious design.

Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

hagar

55 months ago

Your post makes absolutely zero sense. The benefit is we would get app updates immediately when there are issues instead of having to wait for an entire iOS update to get them. There wouldn’t be a million different configurations, it would be exactly the same as it is now. Apps could just be updated at the same time, just like iOS updates are updated at the same time.

You’re missing my point. In your scenario, you might have a user on iOS 15.1.3, Safari 16.0.3 and Music 12.9.3 etc. It will entirely depend on the user which apps and updates they have. So yes, you could end up with many different configurations. And bugs as a result because an issue might arise with a very specific combination. it’s much much harder for Apple to support this approach.

In the current scenario, people do get the latest update when there’s an issue fixed. there’s zero proof updates are delayed . And what do you care if a specific update only contains Safari, or part of the core framework, or some other fixes or an update for the entire OS.

It’s very well possible an update only touches on Safari components, so essentially it’s just a safari update and not “an entire iOS update”.

Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)