Apple macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 irons out USB Hub and Java bugs

Earlier this month, Apple released macOS Sonoma 14.4 alongside watchOS 10.4, tvOS 17.4, visionOS 1.1, and HomePod Software 17.4. In addition to new emojis and the ability to use alternative payment options for App Store apps introduced to comply with the new EU regulations for digital markets, macOS Sonoma 14.4 came with no less than 50 security fixes. Sadly, it also came with a few annoyances that this week's 14.4.1 update takes care of.

This new macOS Sonoma update is labeled 14.4.1 and has the build number 23E224, and although it was released a few days ago, some users of compatible hardware might not have gotten it yet. The list of fixes includes the following trio:

• External displays connected via USB hubs might not work properly or not be detected at all.
• Copy-protected Audio Unit plugins used by apps such as MixWave or Kilohearts failed to open or pass validation.
• Java apps that worked flawlessly before started crashing after installing macOS Sonoma 14.4.

In addition to the above, two security vulnerabilities were patched, both tracked as CVE-2024-1580. The first involves the CoreMedia framework, and the second one is related to WebRTC.

Unfortunately, it seems that macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 also comes with a quite annoying new problem. After updating, Apple Support Community member Nellie Ray Wilson reported that his Mac started to freeze in various situations, such as renaming a file. Each time this happened, he needed to restart the machine. For now, it is only an isolated case, but it might be just the first one of many more to follow.

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