{"id":43993,"date":"2024-07-05T16:16:51","date_gmt":"2024-07-05T20:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=43993"},"modified":"2025-07-18T13:42:54","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T17:42:54","slug":"sequoia-removes-gatekeeper-contextual-menu-override","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2024\/07\/05\/sequoia-removes-gatekeeper-contextual-menu-override\/","title":{"rendered":"Sequoia Removes Gatekeeper Contextual Menu Override"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jason Snell<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Here’s a thing I noticed today. macOS Sequoia changes how non-notarized apps are handled on first launch. I couldn’t override by doing the control-click > Open > yes really Open dance. Instead, I had to go to the Settings app, to the Security screen, and click there to allow it to open. At which point it asked me AGAIN if I wanted to open it, and then had to put in my password!<\/p>

I get the impulse about making it harder to socially engineer bad apps from opening, but… this is ridiculous.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Apparently, after the first time of going through System Settings, you can just use the contextual menu like before. But who’s going to figure this out on their own? It’s another take on security through obscurity.<\/p>\n

With Mac notarization increasingly difficult to bypass, it becomes even more important that Apple not add a human<\/a> element to it, like with iOS, where it could be weaponized to “review” apps that aren’t in the Mac App Store.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the more pressing concern for me is that a significant number of my customers continue to encounter the Gatekeeper<\/a> bug<\/a> where it refuses to launch (notarized!) apps because it incorrectly reports them as damaged. The Control-click bypass never worked in this case. I don’t know how to reproduce the bug except that it seems to be related to downloading a new version of an app that had previously been installed.<\/p>\n\n

Jeff Johnson<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Apple keeps twisting the screw to lock down the Mac.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n