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Parental Controls bug in Mountain Lion 10.8.2

For years I've used Parental Controls, not to restrict my daughter's web content, but to limit her time on the computer. But tonight I upgraded Mountain Lion from 10.8.1 to 10.8.2 and something broke.


Suddenly every secure web page she tries to access (to include google, gmail, amazon, etc.) fails. It says "Parental controls restricts access to secure websites".


A little hunting around turned up the following Apple Knowledge Base article: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2900 that says "https note: For websites that use SSL encryption (the URL will usually begin with https), the Internet content filter is unable to examine the encrypted content of the page. For this reason, encrypted websites must be explicitly allowed using the Always Allow list. Encrypted websites that are not on the Always Allow list will be blocked by the automatic Internet content filter."


I understand that logic however that should NOT apply to me since I'm not trying to automatically restrict her adult web content or create allowed/blocked site lists, etc. She has *unrestricted* web site access, so the Internet content filter shouldn't even be in play here.


Just to get this up and running, I did type the Admin account and password in at the prompt to let her gain access to the web pages. However that did not work. Even though it said it would now allow access - it did not.


I also tried going into Parental Controls, turning ON web site filtering, going into Custom, and adding in approved secure web sites (google, etc.) Even *that* did not work.


Everything was great until 10.8.2 came along but now her account is for all intents and purposes unusable.


Help? And thanks.

MacBook, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), iPod touch 2nd gen 16GB, iPad 1st gen 3G 16GB

Posted on Sep 20, 2012 11:37 PM

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186 replies

Sep 21, 2012 12:23 AM in response to araym

I have this exact same problem. Parental controls are on but the internet access is set to FULL, no restrictions. The prompt to allow secure website is popping up all the time, pretty much making web browsing impossible!

I also get the same prompt saying that Dropbox is trying to access a secure site.


Major bug.

Sep 21, 2012 5:32 AM in response to araym

Same hissue on my side! 2 mac mini and 1 iMac...


I have tried every cache clean-up and permissions repair: still does not work. I guess the "https" issue is tha right cause.


My MacBook with 10.7.5 still deals perfectly with parental controls. It is then a 10.8.2 bug. HELP! My backup (Firefox with extensions, Safari disabled via access rights) is not satisfactory...

Sep 21, 2012 10:39 AM in response to araym

Same problem here. Apple seems to be neglecting the parental controls. First, they broke X11: http://xquartz.macosforge.org/trac/ticket/439. 10.8.1 didn't address that problem. Not only does 10.8.2 not address the X11 bug, it actually breaks secure web browsing!


Just to add a little more information, secure browsing on Safari seems to work OK for me once authorized. However, neither Firefox nor Chrome work with any secure site even after they have been authorized. Unfortunately, my daughter's school site is secure and it doesn't work on Safari so her Mac is useless for school now.


Looks like I'll have to restore using Time Machine and not update again until I know this has been addressed.


Apple, I'm not impressed.


Mike

Sep 21, 2012 10:47 AM in response to Rembert Oldenboom

Exactly the same issue here - I upgraded my MBA and iMac and now they are unusable for my kids - can't even do a google search because it's set to use https, no matter how many times I add the address to parental controls or even if I turn them off completely.


This is an unmitigated disaster - not only is parental controls broken but it seems if the account ever had parental controls it is broken - very poor show apple - please fix asap and explain to my kids why they can't play minecraft and can't do their homework research because you have broken their accounts 😟

Sep 21, 2012 11:17 AM in response to araym

I'm having the same problem here. It started after I installed 10.8.2.


I set up a "managed" account with parental control enabled but have not restricted any web sites. I use this account for my everyday work. (I don't like to run with a administrator account to browse the web. It's a dangerous place!)


After installing 10.8.2, I get a "ubd attempted to access a secure website" message everytime I sync something to/from iCloud.

Sep 21, 2012 12:08 PM in response to danykaffee

Did that simple trick solve it for you? I tried it. Still the popups. All my kids have parental controls currently disabled but still experience those errors - even though parental controls is turned off, 10.8.2 still offers granting access to the URL by typing an admin password. Tried that as well. Still no joy. The kids are now using an old Windows laptop as school goes on.


So, can you please check your trick? Maybe you did something all others didn't try here?


Just submitted this bug to Apple via http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

Parental Controls bug in Mountain Lion 10.8.2

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