Apple Firewall configuration has two lines for every application

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Level 1

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Apple Firewall configuration has two lines for every application

I was looking to adjust my Firewall settings and when I look at the window with the list of applications that accept incoming connections, I see two entries for every application. E.g., for "Spotify" there are two lines, one above the other, that both display application name, icon, and "Allow incoming connections." Every other allowed application has the same.

No idea what could be causing this. Any suggestions? Seems wrong.

MacBook Pro (2020 and later)

Posted on Mar 7, 2022 1:40 PM

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Answer 1

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Old Toad

Level 10

210,615 points

Mar 7, 2022 2:02 PM in response to rpg25

Give this a try: boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and test to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.

NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to 3 - 5 minutes as it's doing the following;

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

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Answer 2

rpg25 Author

Level 1

58 points

Mar 8, 2022 7:29 AM in response to Old Toad

Interestingly, this problem has mostly resolved itself. After some time, all but one of the duplicate rows is gone. Now there is only the row for "Python."

When I try the "Show in Finder" action, one of the "Python" rows does not pop up the Finder (it would be nice if Apple considered the possibility of not finding a match, and provided an informative message here), and one points to the "Python" that came with MacOS.

So my guess is that this second row is spurious, and I will see about doing the reboot into Safe Mode. I should probably try a simple reboot first, and see if that's enough. It looks almost like some process exists to remove bogus entries in this table.

Thanks for the help, @Old Toad

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Apple Firewall configuration has two lines for every application

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