Addigy: Apple Rapid Security Response updates not being applied in 25% of managed macOS devices

Addigy, a provider of Apple device management solutions, today announced that it has found that Apple Rapid Security Response (RSR) updates are not being deployed in up to 25% of macOS devices within managed environments. 

RSR is a mechanism that allows Apple to deliver security updates to macOS devices more quickly than traditional software updates. Addigy’s clients have hundreds of thousands of macOS and iOS devices under management. 

The company says that inspections of customer environments have definitively shown that some macOS devices end up in a “stuck state”after an update is pushed, but the update is never implemented. More concerningly, there is no way for IT departments to know which machines are not implementing RSR updates without manually inspecting each machine and enabling the update, and this doesn’t just impact updates. Still, any MDM action on the device will also no longer be possible.

MDM commands and frameworks are increasingly used for device management and protection, so the health and responsiveness of the macOS MDM stack on the device is critical. Addigy discovered the RSR wasn’t being implemented after finding that the MDM client binary gets stuck after executing the OSUpdateScan command and stops communicating with the Apple MDM Framework that Addigy follows. If the MDM client on the device is unresponsive, necessary MDM actions are delayed, leading to potential security vulnerabilities in this critical RSR case.

Based on its research, Addigy says the issue is systemic and affects a quarter of all MDM-managed macOS environments. iOS and iPadOS devices don’tseem to be affected by this. As a result, all MDM vendors and customers are encouraged to audit their environments to ensure the critical RSR update is making its way onto every eligible machine under management.   

macOS and iOS devices are increasingly becoming the machines of choice for workers. For example:

●      According to analyst research firm IDC, the penetration of Mac devices in the market is roughly 25 percent;

●      Some of the world’s most innovative companies deploy Mac at scale, including Salesforce, SAP, and Target.

Addigy Implements MDM Watchdog utility

To ensure all machines receive and implement RSR updates, Addigy is rolling out a new MDM Watchdog utility to its customers. MDM Watchdog monitors the MDM framework on devices and automatically remediates those in which the condition was found. 

The Addigy MDM Watchdog feature will automatically monitor and ensure the devices are in a healthy state and communicating properly to ensure Updates and other critical MDM functionality operate when IT Admins need them, such as applying an emergency security patch like the RSR update, according to CEO Jason Dettbarn. 

“The stuck state condition we discovered within our customers’ environments affects one out of every four devices, so the impact to macOS environments in any enterprise is likely the same,” he adds. “We are committed to keeping our customers’ macOS devices secure. The MDM Watchdog utility is a critical tool to ensure all of our customers’ devices are automatically updated with the latest RSR and every future update.”

The MDM Watchdog utility is available now to all Addigy customers. Addigy will also release a MDM Watchdog utility that is free to customers of all MDM vendors within the next three weeks.

To learn more about the MDM Watchdog utility, go here: https://go.addigy.com/mdmwatchdog