Apple's Legacy System Extension warning

[treed]

Update (July 31, 2020): We have released version 4.5 of Malwarebytes for Mac, which replaces the kernel extension with newer technology that will be compatible with future versions of macOS. This will eliminate the messages described here. Note, however, that Malwarebytes for Mac will not currently install on macOS Big Sur betas! There are still some known issues being caused by bugs in the Big Sur betas, so we're not willing to risk the potential of catastrophic conflicts between the software and Big Sur. Once Big Sur is more mature and Malwarebytes for Mac has been fully tested on it without issues, we'll release a version that will officially work on Big Sur.

Today, Apple released macOS 10.15.4, which adds a new warning when kernel extensions are installed:

More information from Apple can be found here:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210999

We are aware of this, and have been working on replacing our kernel extension since late last year. We plan to replace it with Apple's new EndpointSecurity framework before the release of macOS 10.16, when it is assumed that kernel extensions will no longer work, in part or in full. (We only know that Apple has said they "will not work without compromise" in "a future version of macOS." But we'd rather not find out the hard way exactly what that means.)

The kernel extension will continue to be supported for macOS 10.14 (Mojave) and earlier, but macOS 10.15 (and later) will no longer need it, once we have an update available.

So, no need to panic. We've still got your back, and won't let your protection falter. All you've got to do is make sure you're keeping Malwarebytes for Mac up-to-date. If you have updated to at least version 4.2, and have not disabled the new auto-update feature, it'll update itself in the background without you needing to do anything. To ensure you're up-to-date, just open Malwarebytes and choose Check for Updates from the Malwarebytes menu.

Edited July 31, 2020 by treed

[SJST]

Thanks very much. That's comforting.

[GGITech]

Still totally usless information. Since March I have gotten this error on and off.

Goes away, comes back. Came back today.

Do the above, "You are using the current version of Malwarebytes"

So exactly **WHEN** will this be fixed? Maybe indicate the ACTUAL version it was fixed in if that is the case.

To have us find this, and just keep trying to update and get none is totally useless and moronic.

[alvarnell]

I believe I read that it comes back every thirty days.

It should be fixed on or before the time when that "future version of macOS" is released. Not only do we not know exactly when that date is, as of today we don't even know what version of macOS will actually make the current version incompatible.

I would not expect Malwarebytes to have a "compatible" version available for you before whatever macOS becomes available for testing such a version. The whole point of this posting is to let you know you can safely ignore the warning as the developer is already well aware of the requirement. The only thing that now needs to be updated is that the next version of macOS is 11.0 and not 10.16, but even that may not be the OS that breaks things.

[treed]

11 hours ago, GGITech said:

So exactly **WHEN** will this be fixed?

i'd encourage actually reading the information before dismissing it as useless, as the answer is plainly stated:

Quote

We plan to replace it with Apple's new EndpointSecurity framework before the release of macOS 10.16

Apple regularly releases new major macOS updates every fall. We're assuming this one will be no different. If Apple delays it, that won't change our timeline at all.

We cannot give a specific date. If we do, and something happens such that we miss the date by even a few days, we get all kinds of rude messages, here in the forums and elsewhere. I'm sure you understand.

[pmcjr]

Thank you, Treed.  I had to do a Check for Updates and then install 4.5.14.  Everything went smoothly.  Spiffy new Dock icon. I guess you're rolling out this update over time, but I didn't want to wait.  I never rush to install a new iMac update, however,  and will add "check MBAM's" preparedness for Big Sur before I do that.  You wrote " Once Big Sur is more mature and Malwarebytes for Mac has been fully tested on it without issues, we'll release a version that will officially work on Big Sur."  Will existing installs of MBAM 4.5, migrate to Big Sur once it is out of Beta without your new version or we'll need your new Big Sur version for MBAM to continue working?  It wasn't clear to me if you were referring to new MBAM installs or migration of existing installs as well.  Regards.

[treed]

If you have it installed already and upgrade to Big Sur, that's fine, but the installer itself won't install on Big Sur yet. If you run this on a Big Sur beta, do so at your own risk! We're not aware of any issues with Big Sur, but can't be entirely sure yet that there aren't any or won't be any in future betas. When you do upgrade to Big Sur, before you do, be sure to check for updates again, just to ensure you've got the latest version.

[pmcjr]

2 hours ago, treed said:

If you have it installed already and upgrade to Big Sur, that's fine, but the installer itself won't install on Big Sur yet. If you run this on a Big Sur beta, do so at your own risk! We're not aware of any issues with Big Sur, but can't be entirely sure yet that there aren't any or won't be any in future betas. When you do upgrade to Big Sur, before you do, be sure to check for updates again, just to ensure you've got the latest version.

Thank you, Treed for the quick response and answering my questions.  Malwarebytes is great.  I will not be an early adopter of Big Sur, will wait for any problems to surface, but good tip to check for your updates first.  Will do.

[ArtMasson]

Hi....I've already (unfortunately) loaded the Big Sur Beta upgrade before I downloaded the new Malwarebytes Beta.  So at this point Version 4.4.11 is running on my Mac.  Do I just continue to try to update Malwarebytes...or will there be a notice when the new beta can be downloaded onto my Big Sur OS?  Meantime Malwarebytes is not providing real time protection on my machine I assume.

Thanks in advance.  LOVE Malwarebytes !!!

Art Masson

[alvarnell]

There isn't a Malwarebytes Beta at the moment. v4.5.14 is the current release version and until more testing is done with Big Sur it's unclear whether there are any issues with this or any future Big Sur release. It's also unclear whether a Malwarebytes beta for Big Sur will be necessary at this point. From what has been said, I doubt that Malwarebytes will allow updates for now and the target date for releasing a Big Sur compatible installer will likely be upon Fall macOS release to everybody.

[ArtMasson]

I’m happy to test the current (or a future) release on Big Sur if that would help at any point.  I beta test MacOS, iOS, and iPadOS...on non-primary devices  so if something bad happens it’s no real loss and usually we learn something.  
 

Art Masson 

 

[treed]

We do not currently have an installer that will install on Big Sur. The only way to get version 4.5 onto Big Sur at the moment is to already have it installed when you upgrade to Big Sur. We will have a beta for Big Sur at some point in the future, but the early Big Sur betas had some weird bugs with EndpointSecurity stuff, and we want to be more confident that those are fixed and won't cause customers problems before we release it.

[ArtMasson]

Yes, understand.  There are definitely some permission/security issues in the first public beta of Big Sur....all my drives are read only after the upgrade for most user accounts....and my admin account apparently doesn't have the permissions to change this to read/write on any drive -- even my external ones.  Very strange....I've logged this as a problem and waiting for resolution....new security issues I'm pretty sure.