Interesting MacOS 10.14.6 issue - constantly crashing Safari process

[OVERKILL]

And I don't use Safari.

Was noticing odd slowdowns that would come and go, hauled out Console and BOOM, the SafariPlugInUpdateNotifier is filling its shorts ever 10 seconds.

Now, I don't use Safari. Ever. But, being part of the OS, apparently this process gets called.

I removed all extensions (there were only two, one was WebEx) but that made no difference. Apple has no info on fixing the problem. A restart will apparently cause it to go for a stint but it will eventually come back. I'm far from the only one having this issue, which is interesting.

Because every time it crashes it spawns a ReportCrash process, this is what has been tying up CPU time and causing the slowdowns (along with the crashes themselves).

For the time being I've disabled ReportCrash, which has improved things, but the log is still full of this:

Now, I could boot into a recovery session and remove the process (you can't do it while the computer is normally booted because of the protection mechanisms in place, this is deemed a "critical system process") but that seems a bit extreme. I may try and install one of the newer test builds of Safari to see if it has any impact, but definitely a bizarre experience.

 

[wwillson]

I don't know jack about MacOS, but do know a bit about Linux. Can you su to root and stop the updater process? Root should be able to send sighup to the updater to kill it.

If there is a more recent version, all bets off the table until the updater is upgraded.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Safari Crash Report

 

[OVERKILL]

I don't know jack about MacOS, but do know a bit about Linux. Can you su to root and stop the updater process? Root should be able to send sighup to the updater to kill it.

If there is a more recent version, all bets off the table until the updater is upgraded.

It won't let you, I already tried unfortunately (I have a pretty good Linux and BSD background).

Apple uses what they call "SIP" (yes, I know, interesting to recycle a term with a vastly different meaning...) which in this case stands for "System Integrity Protection". It imposes limits on the root user account(s) to prevent them from modifying system files as well as any processes that are shipped as part of the OS, which includes, in this case, Safari:

About System Integrity Protection on your Mac - Apple Support

System Integrity Protection is a security technology that helps protect your Mac from malicious software.

support.apple.com

Now, I've rebooted since purging the extensions and so far, fingers crossed, the messages have ceased, but based on feedback from others, this may only clear up the issue for a few days. Ugh.

Anyways, I'll keep an eye on it and see what happens. This is the same box we chatted a while ago about maybe moving to Linux because it doesn't officially support any MacOS version past 10.14. I haven't pulled the trigger on that yet because it still works, still runs MS Office, which I like using, Photoshop, Steam (WoT) and a few other applications that either don't have a Linux equivalent, would require Wine or Crossover, or just won't work.

 

[Andreaux]

Hi there folks,
I'm having the same issue for some time now. I have an alert popping up starting at random times that I'm unable to permanently dismiss from then on. It keeps popping up again and again every few seconds until I reboot the machine. Then I'm ok for an indefinite amount of time again.
I am not using Safari at all and have zero extensions in there either enabled or disabled. Just nothing.
I was suspecting this has something to do with OpenCore and the system version it reports as I have OpenCore on my MacPro to have a boot screen with my AMD RX580 but I have no proof yet. Anyone else using OpenCore (or anything similar)?

 

[OVERKILL]

Hi there folks,
I'm having the same issue for some time now. I have an alert popping up starting at random times that I'm unable to permanently dismiss from then on. It keeps popping up again and again every few seconds until I reboot the machine. Then I'm ok for an indefinite amount of time again.
I am not using Safari at all and have zero extensions in there either enabled or disabled. Just nothing.
I was suspecting this has something to do with OpenCore and the system version it reports as I have OpenCore on my MacPro to have a boot screen with my AMD RX580 but I have no proof yet. Anyone else using OpenCore (or anything similar)?

I manually went through and removed all Safari extensions and rebooted. I haven't launched Safari and so far, fingers crossed, the error is gone. I did have two extensions that showed up, but both were disabled (WebEx and Adobe).

 

[Andreaux]

As I wrote, I don't even use Safari and have zero extensions in there. Do you have OpenCore?

 

[OVERKILL]

As I wrote, I don't even use Safari and have zero extensions in there. Do you have OpenCore?

I don't use it either, which I noted in the OP, but even still, there were extensions present and I had this recurring problem. Purging all of those (there were some in the folders that didn't show up in System Preferences BTW) and rebooting got rid of the issue so far.

No, I don't have OpenCore, as I bought a card (GTX 680) that I could flash to get the boot screen.

 

[Andreaux]

Were those extensions showing up in Safari? Because I don't have any showing up there doesn't necessarily mean there's none hiding somewhere. Where did you check for things to remove?

Hm.. OpenCore was one of my suspicions since it reports a later hardware revision to allow more recent OSes to install and I thought this might confuse the updater, but then it might not be the case at all.

The GTX 680 is a great piece, but I needed something more beefy to use with Windows dual booting for gaming My kids got the GTX 680 Mac Flashed for their PC and it still works in there despite being Mac-flashed

 

[Andreaux]

I found some stuff in a folder called "Internet Plug-Ins" within Library... stuff dated back 2015. I moved those to the Disabled Plug-Ins folder and I'm waiting to see what happens now that they're out of the way... It would be so nice to get rid of this trash popup...

 

[OVERKILL]

Were those extensions showing up in Safari? Because I don't have any showing up there doesn't necessarily mean there's none hiding somewhere. Where did you check for things to remove?

No, some of them weren't, that was part of the fun, lol.

Hm.. OpenCore was one of my suspicions since it reports a later hardware revision to allow more recent OSes to install and I thought this might confuse the updater, but then it might not be the case at all.

Yeah, I'm definitely not using it, so if it's the same issue, that isn't the cause.

The GTX 680 is a great piece, but I needed something more beefy to use with Windows dual booting for gaming My kids got the GTX 680 Mac Flashed for their PC and it still works in there despite being Mac-flashed

Yeah, it's not a bad card. I only play Borderlands, WoT...etc, stuff that isn't super demanding, and for that, the 680 is still fine

 

[Andreaux]

Fingers crossed, I haven't had the pop-up since. I sooo hope this stays this way.

 

[Andreaux]

It restarted this evening. How's it with you? Did it come back ever?

I didn't install anything since

 

[OVERKILL]

It restarted this evening. How's it with you? Did it come back ever?

I didn't install anything since

Nope, mine has, fingers crossed, stayed fixed.

 

[UncleDave]

current safari version is 15.1 -
current mac OS is 12.0.1

how old is this machine you are running?

 

[OVERKILL]

current safari version is 15.1 -
current mac OS is 12.0.1

how old is this machine you are running?

Andreaux or myself? Mine is an old Mac Pro. Thing is, it works really well still, so I'm having an extremely hard time justifying replacing it.