14 DAY TRIAL // Apple has released today several new stable updates of its iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS operating systems. We've already told you what the Cupertino company patched in the iOS 10.2.1 security and bugfix update, so we'd like to tell you all about macOS 10.12.3.
Without any doubt, macOS Sierra is the most advanced and beautiful version of the operating system that powers our Macs, but from time to time, it needs patching, like anything else in this world.
macOS 10.12.3 is the third bugfix release in the Sierra (macOS 10.12) series, which most of you are probably using on your Mac computers already, and it's here to improve the security, stability, and compatibility of your Mac.
It updates the pre-installed PHP packages to version 5.6.28, which is not the latest (5.6.30 is, at least at the moment of writing this article), but at least it resolves multiple issues in the mod_php Apache module.
It also patches a security issue in the Vim text editor that could allow an attacker to run arbitrary code or crash the app by opening a maliciously crafted file, addresses a couple of kernel vulnerabilities, and improves Bluetooth support and graphics drivers.
Help Viewer and libarchive issues also patched
A buffer overflow issue in the libarchive library and a cross-site scripting problem in the built-in Help Viewer are also patched in today's macOS Sierra 10.12.3 security update, which also resolves a bug in the IOAudioFamily component.
With that in mind, we can only think right now to update our Macs to the macOS 10.12.3 as soon as possible to patch all these problems, and you should do the same, at your earliest convenience, of course.
Study all the security content of macOS Sierra 10.12.3 if you want to know what exactly was fixed in this update, and in the meantime, you should also update your other devices to iOS 10.2.1, watchOS 3.1.1, and tvOS 10.1.1.
macOS Server 5.2 is also available for download today, along with the first point release of the Xcode 8.2 IDE (Integrated Development Environment), which includes macOS, iOS, tvOS, and watchOS SDKs (Software Development Kits) for application developers.