macOS is not locking screen after lid close

Question

Level 1

9 points

macOS is not locking screen after lid close

Sometimes, the macOS Monterey is not locked after being awaken from lid close. It is a huge security issue, since anyone with physical access to macbook can gain access to all running applications!

I haven't seen any problem like that on earlier macOSes.

Procedure to reproduce:

Do something on the MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016) with macOS 12.5 and 12.5.1
Close the lid of macbook with only power adapter connected
Either after 5 seconds or 5 hours:
Open the lid of macbook and see that it doesn't require neither password not touchid, you gain access to the all processes running without any problem!
Open the activity monitor
Check for processes with "preventing sleep" as on, currently observed one is "powerd" (earlier the problematic process was addressbooksourcesync)
Kill the powerd
Close the lid of the macbook, immediately open it and see that macbook is locked as it should be

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 12.5

Posted on Sep 4, 2022 2:58 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Owl-53

Level 10

102,283 points

Sep 4, 2022 6:22 AM in response to cybek

1 - Restart in Safe Mode. This will perform a Disk Repair, clear cache files and only load Apple Software, extensions and fonts. The boot up will be slow and can take some time - Normal.

2 - Does the issue present in this mode ?

3 - Sometimes a Safe Boot followed by a Normal Boot will just put things right.

4 - If not - there could be something in the main User Account playing up. To further isolate this - Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac. Then log out of the Main User account and log into the dummy account and test again if the issue persists.

5 - If the issue is present in the dummy account - then, this appears to be a System Wide issue on the computer.

6 - If after performing each of the above steps in the order that have been presents and still have issues - please advise for possible further assistance.

Reply

Answer 2

cybek Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 4, 2022 7:08 AM in response to dialabrain

dialabrain wrote:

Just a thought, lock the screen (control command Q) before you close the lid.

Of course I can, but how can I be sure that the problem is that the macOS is not locked and not that the macOS locks the system, but the lock subsystem fails and unlocks? It's a reflex to close the lid and pack the macbook, even if I lock the screen directly, there is a possibility that I will forget to do it once, and someone can take control over my system. I'd rather resolve this issue to increase the security, but until that, I will probably have to lock it manually, so thanks for the shortcut.

P. Phillips wrote:

Restart in Safe Mode

I will try that and return with the results, thanks.

Reply

Answer 3

dialabrain

Level 10

135,569 points

Sep 4, 2022 6:49 AM in response to cybek

cybek wrote:

Sometimes, the macOS Monterey is not locked after being awaken from lid close. It is a huge security issue• , since anyone with physical access to macbook can gain access to all running applications!

I haven't seen any problem like that on earlier macOSes.

Just a thought, lock the screen (control command Q) before you close the lid.

Reply

Answer 4

Owl-53

Level 10

102,283 points

Sep 4, 2022 4:47 AM in response to cybek

" Check for processes with "preventing sleep" as on, currently observed one is "powerd" (earlier the problematic process was addressbooksourcesync) "

Is the Contacts Application associated with any Source Other than iCloud ?

Reply

Answer 5

cybek Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 4, 2022 5:25 AM in response to Owl-53

No, I don't have any other account set. Even on it I don't have contacts other than default "me".

Reply

macOS is not locking screen after lid close

Similar questions