Apple had accidentally approved malware disguised as Flash to run on macOS, says report

The common malware, called Shlayer, was disguised as an update for the Adobe Flash Player to run on macOS.

Security researcher Patrick Wardle said that Apple by mistake approved an app that contained code used by a well-known malware called Shlayar, (Pixabay)

Apple had accidentally approved a common malware that was disguised as an update for the Adobe Flash Player and allowed it to run on macOS, states a report. Security researcher Patrick Wardle said that Apple by mistake approved an app that contained code used by a well-known malware called Shlayar, writes The Verge.

Shlayer is a trojan downloader that spreads through fake applications and bombards users with an influx of adware. According to Kaspersky, Shlayer is the most common threat to Macs.

Wardle said that is was the first time he came to know of Apple's mistake in notarising malware following the addition of its new notarisation process.

Apple's macOS notarising process was announced in 2019 and required every app to be reviewed by Apple and signed by a developer before it was allowed to run on the macOS. This applied to all apps even if they were being distributed outside the Mac App Store.

Wardle contacted Apple after he discovered the malware and the company soon disabled the developer account associated with the app and also revoked its certification. 

The attackers who were behind this managed to get the malware notarised again, but according to what Apple told TechCrunch, both the old and the new malware's notarisation has been revoked.