For more information, see Support Tip: Using system extensions instead of kernel extensions for macOS Catalina 10.15 in Intune. Kernel extensions will not be supported on macOS devices running 10.15.4 and later. Apple also announced that with the release of 10.15.4, system extensions will replace kernel extensions entirely. To accomplish this, you’ll use the kextstat command and pipe the output to grep, using the command line. This requirement applies as of macOS 10.13 (High Sierra). Of course we’ll have to keep “feth” around in the code base until versions prior to 10.15 (Catalina) die off, and keep the kernel extension around until versions prior to 10.13 die off. The new macOS Catalina 10.15.4 software that dropped this week throws a compatibility message when a kernel extension first loads or is being used. If you updated to macOS Catalina 10.15 you may have seen a warning message about kernel extensions. It should deliver superior performance too. This makes system extensions more reliable and secure, as well as easier to develop. We might even be able to finally put ZeroTier in the Mac App Store for easier installation and updates on MacOS! The list of kernel extensions found on my Mac also shows the MalwareBytes hit that macOS Catalina listed in the warning when booting. client for Mac, you may need to take additional steps to ensure that the kernel extensions are authorized. That’s because Apple is deprecating some of them in macOS 11 Big Sur. The operating system dictates that the authorization must be made at the local computer. When the FileVault is enabled on your Mac and your disk is encrypted, your system will not allow you to remove any kext file from your disk using Terminal in the recovery mode. Once your newly installed extension is in place, it’s the task of the kextcache command tool to link it with all the other kernel extensions and the kernel itself, and create the prelinked kernel ready for the next time your Mac starts up. This article describes the different kernel and system extension settings you can control on macOS devices. Update on October 30, 2019: This issue is fixed in macOS 10.15.1.In this article we’d like to outline some technical details about how the installation of a kernel extension works on macOS Catalina, about potential pitfalls in this process, what can go wrong, and what currently Three kinds of system extensions can be built in Catalina: network extensions, driver extensions, and endpoint security extensions. Determining what kernel extensions are loaded and running in Mac OS X is rather easy, and using grep you can then easily list all third party kexts. You can also use the same command to list native kernel extensions as well. Remove kernel extensions when FileVault is enabled. With the release of macOS Catalina 10.15, Apple has introduced system extensions that are currently working alongside kernel extensions on the device. The first step towards this announcement was made with the release of macOS Catalina (10.15.0) in September 2019, when system extensions were introduced alongside kernel extensions. System extensions work similar to KEXTs, but they run in the user space outside the kernel like other applications. According to a newly published support document on Apple’s website, some kernel extensions will not work in the future.