Symantec: ‘Mac OS X 10.7.3 Release Is Imminent’

Security firm Symantec based in Mountain View, California, is signaling that Apple is planning to roll out Mac OS X 10.7.3 Lion any moment now. The company warns that certain users should not perform the upgrade as soon as it was made available.

Apple, this week, rolled out a new beta of OS X 10.7.3 Lion to developers. The seed notes were indicative of a public release, though it hasn’t been confirmed that developers are dealing with a GM (Golden Master) build.

Symantec Corporation is the largest maker of security software. It’s best known for its Norton line of antivirus products.

But Symantec is almost certain that OS X 10.7.3 Final is going to be deployed to the masses relatively soon, therefore the company has decided to issue a preemptive warning for users whose Macs are encrypted with PGP WDE or SEE FDE keys.

In order to preserve the consistency of their warning, we will reproduce the full blog entry below:

It has come to Symantec's attention that an OS X 10.7.3 update release is imminent from Apple.

Based on past experiences, we do NOT recommend users currently encrypted with PGP WDE or SEE FDE for Macs upgrade to OS X 10.7.3 when made available by Apple.

Symantec is actively testing PGP WDE and SEE FDE against the 10.7.3 developers build from Apple. We will continue testing against all developers code from Apple and also against the official release from Apple.

Please check this blog for updates as they become available.

As reported earlier today, Mac OS X 10.7.3 Build 11D42 has been seeded to developers with instructions to focus on areas like Address Book, iCal, Mail, Spotlight, and Safari.

The build appears final, and the changelog seems to support those claims. Among the documented fixes, Apple reveals that the build addresses compatibility issues with Windows file sharing, authenticating with directory services, and the use of smart cards to log into OS X.