hoakley November 7, 2023 Macs, Technology, Updates

Apple has just released Sonoma 14.1.1 update

Apple has just released updates to bring macOS Sonoma to version 14.1.1, and macOS Ventura 13.6.2 for “MacBook Pro (2021 and later) and iMac (2023)”. Although these are thought to include security updates, there are no security release notes to accompany them.

The update to 14.1.1 is around 400 MB for Intel Macs, and 820 MB for Apple silicon Macs, making it the smallest macOS update ever for Apple silicon Macs (excluding RSRs).

The Ventura update apparently addresses two serious bugs:

Apple silicon MacBook Pro models may enter a black screen failure mode when updating to Ventura 13.6.1; this update should prevent that from happening.
Some of the early batches of the latest M3 iMacs shipped with Ventura installed (seriously), and couldn’t be upgraded or updated using existing updates (really seriously). This version of Ventura 13.6.2 should address that.

Sonoma 14.1.1 is claimed to contain important bug fixes and security updates, but Apple isn’t letting on what they might be. There don’t appear to be any updates to iBoot or T2 Intel firmware, and none of the bundled apps has changed version or build number, not even Safari, which remains at version 17.1 (19616.2.9.11.7).

In the /System/Library folder, QuartzCore framework has a single build increment. Otherwise there are no differences between that folder in macOS 14.1 and 14.1.1. The macOS build number for this release is 23B81.

Last updated 2303 GMT 7 November 2023.

14Comments

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1

John Gilbert on November 8, 2023 at 3:46 am

Yes, my lovely new MacBookPro came with macOS 13.5 (a special M3 build) and no published way of updating. Panic! But download of install package (MrMacintosh and MacRumors posts had the links) and updated to 14.1 (another special M3 build). And it has now updated to 14.1.1 in the standard way, but the build is 23B2082 (yet another special build).

Some of the MBPs must having sitting on the shelf for a while (my macOS 13.5 install date was end of August). Nothing wrong with that, but:
1) Having a previous major version installed seems a bit unusual.
2) No obvious update path was unconscionable on the part of Apple. At the least, I would have expected an email or a piece of paper in the box to explain how to update.

No doubt I will soon forget about all that.

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- 2
  
  hoakley on November 8, 2023 at 5:59 pm
  
  Thank you. It’s utter chaos again, and silence from Apple.
  Howard.
  
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3

Ian Trimnell on November 8, 2023 at 7:03 am

Apple also released an update to Safari for Ventura. The (short) version stays the same at 17.1 but the full version is now 18616.2.9.11.10 (18616.2.9.11.9 was the version orignally released with macOS 13.6.1).

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- 4
  
  hoakley on November 8, 2023 at 6:00 pm
  
  Thank you. I’m afraid that I have completely lost track of Safari updates for older versions of macOS now.
  Howard.
  
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5

Maurizio on November 8, 2023 at 10:20 am

Today they release anoter spin of Safari 17.1 for Ventura (the latest was on 26 october) , different build Versione 17.1 (18616.2.9.11.10, 18616) , for me it fix some regression on speedometer 2.1 due to mitigation of interprocess leak (a malicious site could read data running on other tabs opened or on active sessions), speedometer return to value of 488 (previous build of 17.1 cant exceed 465)

ps: no signs of Ventura 13.6.2

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- 6
  
  hoakley on November 8, 2023 at 6:04 pm
  
  Thank you. As I wrote, 13.6.2 is only for two specific groups of Mac models. You shouldn’t be offered it unless your Mac is one of those requiring it.
  Howard.
  
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7

Enrico on November 8, 2023 at 11:52 am

Hi, since you always try to dig into Apple’s unpublished changes I thought I’d let you know about something that changed with 14.1 (didn’t find the time to comment on that post) with launchd. You can see in the security notes that apple did some unspecified changes to how launchd handles security. I have a shell script and a launchd service that runs it at boot and whenever a file is changed, the script enables touchid as auth for sudo, but apple resets the configuration file with every system update. So the service is meant to restore my preferred config every time apple sets it back. Since 14.1 launchd refuses to run my script, which still works if ran manually. Here is my “code”: https://gist.github.com/esoel/8a4d564981374737e00c70f34c2f6e77

The launchd error when trying to load the service manually is
“`
$ sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/me.illogical.fingerprintsudo.plist
Load failed: 5: Input/output error
Try running `launchctl bootstrap` as root for richer errors.
“`
obviously looking in the console app it just says , because apple…
Anyway, if you don’t find this interesting just ignore it, but if you have any pointer to try to restore functionality I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks and apologies for the verbosity…

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- 8
  
  Johnson on November 8, 2023 at 3:35 pm
  
  you don’t need to re-enable touchID for sudo any more: in /etc/pam.d copy sudo_local.template as sudo_local and edit appropriately — works a treat!
  
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  - 9
    
    hoakley on November 8, 2023 at 6:05 pm
    
    Thank you – a much better solution, I think.
    Howard.
    
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10

Apple Squashes Bugs with iOS 17.1.1, iPadOS 17.1.1, macOS 14.1.1, macOS 13.6.2, watchOS 10.1.1, and HomePod Software 17.1.1 - TidBITS on November 8, 2023 at 6:00 pm

[…] not sure where he got the information, but Howard Oakley writes that macOS 13.62 addresses two update-related […]

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11

Robert Jansen on November 8, 2023 at 10:38 pm

Running OCLP 1.2.0 and flashed MacPro4,1 to MacPro5,1…. offered Sonoma 14.1.1 update (and running) , but NOT offered Ventura 13.6.2 (running 13.6.1). Pretty specific indeed. FYI

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- 12
  
  hoakley on November 9, 2023 at 10:10 am
  
  Yes, that update is specifically for the models listed.
  Howard.
  
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13

Eva on November 19, 2023 at 8:17 pm

Eva the desperate, on November 19, 2023 (very late my time) I am very ignorant about all this. I have a simple question. I have a MacBook Pro from 2021 (the last intel I think) and was very happy with Ventura. Sonoma messed me up and I am not even sure I needed it. Now I lost lot of text and docs, photos and the backups I had on the Time Machine. So, I did not know that it was a Beta version either and cannot go back to Ventura. Is it necessary or recommended to keep updating in my case? I have Sonoma 14.0 and I ought to update to 14.1.

I don’t know about Safari, but I feel like with YouTube, where each update gets worse. I have a VPN and maybe it is no good.
I lost use of fingerprint reader also, but since I have moved abroad for a while, I cannot get any support nor I was eligible to renew Apple+ Care. That messed up my iPAD also as it is connected. iPad Air 9th generation. Can any of you suggest an App I can purchase to clean up my 2 or 3 HD Desktop clones and the tons of duplicates as well as some APP that can play any audio/video and read any text or file?
Thank you.

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- 14
  
  hoakley on November 19, 2023 at 10:24 pm
  
  Unfortunately, reverting to an older version of macOS is very hard, and relies largely on being able to restore from your backups. Upgrading from Ventura to Sonoma should be straightforward: that you have such severe problems on a recent Mac suggests that you have old software installed that either needs to be removed or updated so that it works properly. Does your Mac have any kernel extensions? If so, uninstalling or updating them could make a big difference. Check through your Applications folder to see if there are apps that should updated.
  Although there are apps that claim to do this for you, I don’t trust them and much prefer to do this manually.
  I wish you success.
  Howard.
  
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