Apple addressed two critical vulnerabilities that may have been actively exploited in the wild, but as Intego pointed out this week, Apple left macOS Big Sur and macOS Catalina users vulnerable.
An AppleAVD issue and an Intel Graphics Driver issue were fixed in the macOS Monterey 12.3.1 update. Apple said that it was aware of reports that these vulnerabilities may have been actively exploited, and that there are attacks that use these specific security holes.
Mac users who run older operating systems are often protected by Apple's security updates. There are no security fixes for macOS 11 Big sur or macOS 10.15 Catalina because Apple has not done so.
It is not clear why security fixes for notable vulnerabilities have not been released. This is the first time in history that Apple has not released patches for Big Sur and Catalina at the same time as a security update.
The AppleAVD bug and the Intel Graphics Driver bug are likely to impact Big Sur and Catalina, based on research conducted by Intego.
There are some Mac users who choose to remain on Big Sur or Catalina who could install Monterey to get security fixes, but other Mac users have older hardware that is not able to be updated to Monterey, and these users have no way to address the security flaws that are now publicized.
According to Intego, 35 percent of Macs in use today could be affected by one or both vulnerabilities, and Apple has not responded to the site's request for an update on when security fixes might come out.
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