Workaround for macOS High Sierra Root Bug

By Rory Monaghan

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This is a short blurb intended mostly to help out friends and family. Earlier today Twitter caught fire as a massive bug was reported in the latest version of MacOS (macOS High Sierra) by Lemi Orhan Ergin (Thanks for the heads up, sir!):

An update to the OS cleared the root account password. You can do as suggested in the tweet, as well as even log into your Mac using root with no password. This is a very serious security issue, you need to address this right now. I panicked when I saw this and tweeted my panic! Typo and all.

Update: More reason to worry, check out this video and thread:

There is an easy workaround. Just set a root password! Follow this post to see how it’s done. How do I know if I have macOS High Sierra? Click anywhere on your desktop     When you see Finder in the menu bar, click the Apple icon Click About This Mac If you have macOS High Sierra continue to follow my steps on how to set a root password How to Set a Root Password In Launchpad, click System Preferences Click on Users & Groups   Click Login Options Click Open Directory Utility… Click the padlock icon Enter your admin credentials and click Unlock Navigate to the menu–>Edit and click Change Root Password… Set a secure password (don’t set it to password or root or something dumb!) and when complete, click on the padlock icon again. Your root account should now be fixed! Featured image courtesy of Apple.

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