Buggy Google Chrome update crashing Macs

Bugs and Google seem to be an unseperable affair. A severe bug courtesy Google seem to have crashed Macs across the Hollywood. Initial speculation by Mac video professionals judged Avid’s Media Composer editor as the culprit behind this mishap.

But the issue lay deep within a piece of Google software that keeps Google Chrome up-to-date. Google Keystone (Software Update) version 1.2.13.75 recently rolled out with a bug that damages the macOS file system on computers where SIP (System Integrity Protection) is disabled.

The SIP, as you may know, prevents potentially malicious software or programs from modifying the protected files/folders in a Mac. Earlier Tuesday, while the root cause of the Mac Pro’s crashing was still unknown, Avid in a statement said that they made it a top priory and their engineers were working around the clock to solve the issue.

Ceo Jeff Rosica said:

Around the Clock,Whatever it takes.

It was only later on Tuesday when Google confirmed a Google Chrome update is the actual culprit. Google acknowledged the bug and provided steps to recover a Machine which is affected by the bug :

In the Terminal application, you can run the following commands:

 

chroot /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD   # "Macintosh HD" is the default

rm -rf /Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle

mv var var_back  # var may not exist, but this is fine

ln -sh private/var var

chflags -h restricted /var

chflags -h hidden /var

xattr -sw com.apple.rootless "" /var

 

Then reboot. This will remove the affected version of Google Software Update, then restore the damaged portion of the file system.

Users need to boot into recovery mode prior to executing the commands and don’t miss the root credentials that’ll be are required for this purpose. To execute these steps precisely, follow the link. These Terminal commands will delete the buggy Chrome update and followed by a restoration of the damaged file system.

For the time being, Google has stopped the rollout of the Chrome update, until the bug gets fixed.

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