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Apple Is Trying To Fix A Big Password Glitch In Its New Operating System

Apple is "scrambling" to fix a major flaw in its latest operating system, according to CNBC.
Yesterday, a Turkish developer named Lemi Ergin noticed that it was possible to gain access to administrator rights on the MacOS High Sierra system without a password. He found that by entering the username "root" and leaving the password blank, he was able to get unrestricted access after repeatedly pressing the log-in button.
Apple apologized for the glitch.
"Security is a top priority for every Apple product, and regrettably we stumbled with this release of macOS," said an Apple spokesperson.
"When our security engineers became aware of the issue Tuesday afternoon, we immediately began working on an update that closes the security hole. This morning, as of 8 a.m., the update is available for download, and starting later today it will be automatically installed on all systems running the latest version (10.13.1) of macOS High Sierra."
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The Apple Support Twitter account invited Ergin to message it privately, saying, "Let's take a closer look at what's happening together."
But some Twitter users criticized Ergin for publicly discussing the flaw, since it could potentially present a security problem.
But others defended him, with one user saying that "exposing it publicly lights a fire under Apple, forcing them to prioritize a fix."
While the company is working on a permanent solution, it's offering users a workaround on its website.
"We greatly regret this error and we apologize to all Mac users, both for releasing with this vulnerability and for the concern it has caused," said the spokesperson. "Our customers deserve better. We are auditing our development processes to help prevent this from happening again."

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