macOS Privacy & Security Settings Can Be Misleading About Folder Access
By
zdw
Crisp on the outside, thoughtful on the inside. A keeper.
Summary
The article demonstrates a security vulnerability in macOS where Privacy & Security settings can be misleading. The author shows how apps can access protected folders even when system settings indicate access is denied. Using a custom app called Insent, the article provides a technical demonstration of how this security flaw works across macOS versions from 13.5 onwards, revealing that what users see in privacy settings doesn't always reflect actual access permissions.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledI'm going to show how what you see in Privacy & Security settings can be misleading, when it tells you that an app doesn't have access to a protected folder, but it really does.
Although it appears you can achieve this using several ordinary apps, to make things simpler and clearer I've written a little app for this purpose, Insent.
I'm working in macOS Tahoe 26.4, but I suspect you should see much the same in any version from macOS 13.5 onwards, as supported by Insent.
How to gain access to the contents of privacy-protected folders even though Privacy & Security settings say that access is denied.
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