Security Update 2020-002

I got ahold of an Apple guy via Chat. Here is the transcript of that: Apple guy's chat is in bold text

You are connected with an Advisor

04/08/2020 1:10 PM

You are chatting with Romane.

Thanks for contacting Apple Support. My name is Romane. How can I help you?

Hello, how are you today?

This is Stephen and I'm going to send some information about a problem with the Apple Security UpDate 2020-002

No worries Stephen.

Hello! This is Stephen, a MacOnly user since 1989. Today I am informing you of an issue with the Apple Security UpDate 2020-002 which was issued on 24 March 2020. On my Mac (and many others if you go to the discussion groups) you’ll see that this update is causing a kernel panic and shutdown of macs like my Mac Mini running Mojave — every 90 minutes or so.

1:13 PM

Just to confirm your Mac intermittently shuts down?

For many days now a lot of us have been discussing this on the Apple Discussions, MacRumors and other sites.  It is real - and it seems to affect Catalina as well.  Seems to be affecting the T2 chip and the security update may have affected the T2 chip ROM so a reinstall of the OS will not / does not correct this issue.

The Mac has a kernel panic - i.e. an unwanted shutdown because the Mac detects something.  Well it is clear that that "something" is directly related to the security update 2020-002.

You need to communicate this to the programmers or key people at Apple so that they can fix this - likely by re-issuing a security update.

I will be more than happy to help you resolve this troubling issue, you’re in good hands.

1:16 PM

I've tried all the standard things -- shutdown, safe boot, reset the NVRAM etc.  Nothing works.  So please inform Apple's programmers etc. so that they can issue an update.  Thanks!

Have you heard about this prior to this chat?

Before we begin any troubleshooting, would you mind telling me what troubleshooting you’ve performed so far to help fix the problem, so I don’t ask you to repeat yourself?

This would be the first we are aware of this issue

I just want to give you a quick game plan as to how this chat will go! First, I am going to ask you some questions to gain a better understanding of what is going on, from there we can move into any applicable troubleshooting steps. If the troubleshooting steps do not resolve the issue, we can then look at the available service options. Does that sound good?

1:21 PM

I really don't have time to do that and likely have done everything over the past few days anyway…  So please just send a report of this to the key people at APPLE and if possible copy me on that.  There is nothing wrong with my Mac Mini -- this is directly related to the Apple Security UpDate 2020-002 and that needs to be communicated to Apple.  OK?

I will do this for you as a truly respect your time 

Thank you so much for making us aware of this

1:24 PM

I want to thank you very much!  As a MacUser only since 1989 and still running my Mac SE with Mac OS 6.0.4 (but need to get the CRT fixed!) -- I just love all my Macs, the OS my iPads, iPhones and again, really appreciate this.  If you need me to do any testing after you communicate this just contact me or have anyone at Apple contact me and I will make the time to do the testing.  I have another Mac with just the T1 security chip so can use that to communicate if we have to do a restart on the Mac Mini.  Thanks!  Best regards, Steve Schulte Wednesday 8 April 2020 -

Have an awesome rest of day Stephen thank you so much for highlighting this again

Hopefully this guy takes some action, let's see…

Best regards,

Steve

Wednesday 8 April 2020

[Personal Information Edited by Moderator]

kuramnasmeh, you're right! I was able to reproduce this. When I boot my Mac Mini and do not ever open Safari, and then shut down, when I boot up again it does not give the "Your computer was restarted because of a problem" pop-up error. However, if I boot up, then open Safari (without even browsing to a website) and then shut down, when I boot up again the little white light on the front of the mini comes on.. waits a few seconds, and then goes out. Then a few seconds later the light comes back on and then I get the Apple logo and startup progress bar. When I sign in, BAM, error pop-up. So this bug is definitely related to Safari. And the restart happens when booting up, as evidenced by the light going out then coming back on again. Good eye, kuramnasmeh for spotting this. Hopefully this will point Apple in the right direction to getting this fixed. As for now, every time I get the error I make sure to send the report to Apple so they are hopefully seeing this issue as it occurs.

Hi Roger,

yes, you're right. I rebooted because i had the kernel problem also after the reboot...so after the test I rebooted and ..well..too optimistic. I confirm you that, instead, after shutting down and then start up...the problem is still there. I guess I'll go to chrome or firefox as well for now.

And yes..I'm having, rarely, the same problem with usb-memsticks that cannot be eject. But I'm saying rarely because it happens rarely to mount and unmount memstick attached directly to the USB ports. I have everything connected through the belkin dock station thunderbolt 2...an so far is working..almost fine.

updates when everything will catch on fire...out of the blue of course.

Cheers,

L