After Security Update 2021-007 for Catalina, Google Earth Pro isn't working anymore

No, the opposite is true: It seems they broke it :-}

If you look into the content of Security Update 2021-007 Catalina then you see that Apple (kind of) fixed two Issues with the Intel Graphics Driver. And I strongly assume that (at least) one of these two fixes is the root cause for the problems users have. In case they have a Mac with HD4000 graphics running current Catalina of course - only then.

That's the reason why I think that Apple should be made aware of these problems...

Regards - Matthias

I have the same problem with QGIS

Process: QGIS [3741]

Path: /Applications/QGIS.app/Contents/MacOS/QGIS

Identifier: org.qgis.qgis3

Version: 3.22.0 (3.22.0 [])

Code Type: X86-64 (Native)

Parent Process: ??? [1]

Responsible: QGIS [3741]

User ID: 501

Date/Time: 2021-11-10 22:55:32.540 +0100

OS Version: Mac OS X 10.15.7 (19H1519)

Report Version: 12

Anonymous UUID: 6AD9ACA7-893F-4051-80D1-04D009FE6688

Time Awake Since Boot: 41000 seconds

System Integrity Protection: enabled

Crashed Thread: 0 Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

Exception Type: EXC_CRASH (SIGABRT)

Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000

Exception Note: EXC_CORPSE_NOTIFY

Application Specific Information:

abort() called

Application Specific Signatures:

Graphics kernel error: 0xfffffffb

Thread 0 Crashed:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00007fff6a82433a __pthread_kill + 10

1 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x00007fff6a8e4e60 pthread_kill + 430

2 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff6a7ab808 abort + 120

3 libGPUSupportMercury.dylib 0x00007fff518bf0a5 gpusGenerateCrashLog.cold.1 + 95

4 libGPUSupportMercury.dylib 0x00007fff518b618f gpusGenerateCrashLog + 89

5 com.apple.driver.AppleIntelHD4000GraphicsGLDriver 0x00007fff2618ddd0 gpusKillClientExt + 9

6 libGPUSupportMercury.dylib 0x00007fff518b755b gpusSubmitDataBuffers + 164

7 com.apple.driver.AppleIntelHD4000GraphicsGLDriver 0x00007fff25d63c78 IntelCommandBuffer::getNew(GLDContextRec*) + 48

8 com.apple.driver.AppleIntelHD4000GraphicsGLDriver 0x00007fff25d63aa6 intelSubmitCommands + 187

9 com.apple.driver.AppleIntelHD4000GraphicsGLDriver 0x00007fff25d6c311 glrReadFramebufferData + 1116

10 GLEngine 0x00007fff3afbf361 glReadPixels_Exec + 1021

11 libGL.dylib 0x00007fff3a327a01 glReadPixels + 42

12 org.qt-project.QtWebKit 0x000000010dc77164 WebCore::GraphicsContext3D::readPixelsAndConvertToBGRAIfNecessary(int, int, int, int, unsigned char*) + 404

13 org.qt-project.QtWebKit 0x000000010dc6c806 WebCore::GraphicsContext3D::readRenderingResults(unsigned char*, int) + 278

14 org.qt-project.QtWebKit 0x000000010dc6c61b WebCore::GraphicsContext3D::paintRenderingResultsToCanvas(WebCore::ImageBuffer*) + 75

15 org.qt-project.QtWebKit 0x000000010d3f0424 WebCore::HTMLCanvasElement::paint(WebCore::GraphicsContext&, WebCore::LayoutRect const&) + 148

16 org.qt-project.QtWebKit 0x000000010d25989f WebCore::RenderHTMLCanvas::paintReplaced(WebCore::PaintInfo&, WebCore::LayoutPoint const&) + 479

...

kestrel9532, Security Update 2021-006 needs to be manually downloaded from https://support.apple.com/kb/DL2085?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US - it will not show up in Software Update now that 2021-007 is out. AFAIK, each manually downloaded update is cumulative so all you need to do is reinstall Catalina plus 2021-006 (that's what I did and all seems well - now if only I could tell MacOS to ignore 2021-007 so the badge on System Preferences would go away).

I had exactly the same issue and had to restore my two macbook pros from time machine backups to prove that this latest security update (2021-7) was the culprit. Fortunately I only lost 5 hours working time, but feel that perhaps Apple should offer an update that does not break Google Earth.

I have this problem too. Not only Google Earth Pro, but Stellarium, and RStudio all crashed. Not sure if it's this, but that all had Qt in the traceback (which did get sent to Apple). I didn't check all apps, but these are critical for me.

My solution was to roll back to my last Time Machine backup and all is fine. But now I'm in security limbo since I've had to turn off security updates.

So glad it's others too. A few days ago I went looking for people with similar problems and nothing!!

I have a 2012 Macbook Pro with 16GB RAM and a 1 TB SSD. Still works brilliantly - well up until now.

It crashes even more programs than Google Maps.

Topazlabs Gigapixel Ai

Topazlabs Sharpen Ai

Topazlabs DeNoise Ai

IK Multimedia Sampletank 4

IK Multimedia AmpliTube 5 (Amplitube 4 not affected)

IK Multimedia T-Racks

IK Multimedia MODO drums

IK Multimedia MixBox

And it affects:

IK Multimedia Syntronik (all licenses disappeared)

IK Multimedia Miroslav Philharmonic (some licenses disappeared)

Logitech Logi Options - has not crashed, but it can not recognize changes in my Marathon Mouse

Adobe Illustrator was affected but is now fixed.

And Tada! safety and integrity - Apples own app doesn't respond sometimes.

Looking forward to a couple of days to reinstall everything.

Please verify your GPU. Do you have an Intel HD4000 GraphicsProcessingUnit?

I have the strong suspicion the Security Update 2021-007 Catalina broke the Intel HD4000 graphics driver.

If you look into the CrashReports of your app in question with Console.app you should find the following sequence:

[...]Graphics kernel error: 0xfffffffb


Thread 0 Crashed:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
0   libsystem_kernel.dylib        	0x00007fff6ddc233a __pthread_kill + 10
1   libsystem_pthread.dylib       	0x00007fff6de82e60 pthread_kill + 430
2   libsystem_c.dylib             	0x00007fff6dd49808 abort + 120
3   libGPUSupportMercury.dylib    	0x00007fff54e5d0a5 gpusGenerateCrashLog.cold.1 + 95
4   libGPUSupportMercury.dylib    	0x00007fff54e5418f gpusGenerateCrashLog + 89
5   com.apple.driver.AppleIntelHD4000GraphicsGLDriver	0x00007fff2972bdd0 gpusKillClientExt + 9
6   libGPUSupportMercury.dylib    	0x00007fff54e5555b gpusSubmitDataBuffers + 164
7   com.apple.driver.AppleIntelHD4000GraphicsGLDriver	0x00007fff29301c78 IntelCommandBuffer::getNew(GLDContextRec*) + 48
8   com.apple.driver.AppleIntelHD4000GraphicsGLDriver	0x00007fff29301aa6 intelSubmitCommands + 187
[...]

I opened a support ticket at Apple Support - feel free to do so as well. ;-)

Regards - Matthias

Of course not.

You can re-install Catalina and apply "Security Update 2021-006 Catalina" only.

No, no, no, it's a joke :-) Don't even think about it unless you're willing to disconnect the machine for ever from the internet afterwards.

I expect that Apple publishes a "Security Update 2021-008 Catalina" in the near future where they fix this issue.

But that's work & effort and they won't do it if it's not important. So convince them that it really is important. :-)

Regards - Matthias

What makes any of you think this is an Apple problem? What if Security Update 2021-007 exposed a flaw in Google’s code. This update patched a flaw that allows a hacker to gain access to your Mac without your knowledge or participation. Are any of you saying Google’s code is perfect and any issue is Apple’s fault. I beg to differ. Maybe Google and others need to update their apps to work with Catalina.

same thing happened to me right after the update. tried reinstalling the program and everything. my 2012 mac mini is still a beast, apple. please don’t break apps that i have been using just fine.

edit: forgot to add. i’m on the hd4000 graphics too...

Apple software seems to be affected, too. The panel Safety and integrity hangs for me. Even Finder gets sluggish after a couple of hours work with demanding programs such as Logic Pro. Large sessions in Logic Pro that worked fine prior to Security Update 2021-007 gets an overload so I have to change latency. After restart Finder works rather OK again with some minor (and maybe major) problems. When I attach a second drive thru a USB port it takes about 2-3 seconds to boot. Thus, Time Machine doesn't work correctly on my laptop (MacBookPro mid 2012), which I connect via USB to extern HD. On my Mac Mini (late 2012) it seems OK.

It isn't the first time that Apple experienced problems with Intel HD 4000 1536. There were crashes in both High Sierra and Mojave that were solved about a month later. I think there also were issues with the graphics with some computers after update to Big Sur.

But when it occurred in both High Sierra and Mojave they were the latest OS. Catalina will become obsolete by 2023ish, so I guess that a problem in an old OS is not top priority. And I hope it will get solved soon.

I have one of the affected machines.

If I point Safari to https://webglsamples.org/aquarium/aquarium.html

Safari crashes with the same error signature as Matthias originally described.

That's why I think its a Apple's problem.