The 60-Second Patch: How Apple’s “Background Security Improvement” Ends Update Purgatory

Apple has launched a “Background Security Improvement” system to push lightweight, cryptographically-signed patches for Safari, the WebKit framework, and certain system libraries between major OS releases. The first rollout repairs a WebKit vulnerability that could permit Same Origin Policy bypass, and the mechanism uses sealed disk images (“cryptexes”) to enable fast, low-friction updates with minimal reboot impact and options to remove or remotely revoke problematic patches.