Apple introduces annoying, undocumented innovations with macOS versions 13.3 and 13.3.1. The Finder and sparse bundles are affected. The installer cannot be opened with the control app, and the “Open with” dialog via the context menu only presents the installer application if dealing with a .pkg file. Security programs or installer utilities such as Suspicious Package or Pacifist can only be used in a detour. Apple has changed the behavior and tweaked the LaunchServices without any clear reason. It is unclear why Apple has made these changes, as it should not be for security reasons.
Additionally, a Finder-related bug concerns the use of so-called spare bundles. These are automatically growing and shrinking image files that can be encrypted with a password. macOS 13.3.1 cannot change the passwords of these files afterwards. The problem is apparently a bug in the underlying tool hdiutil, which does not rewrite the password when changed, resulting in the sparse bundle keeping the old password. There is currently no workaround for the error, but it occurs on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs.
As a developer blogs, a workaround in version 4.3.2 of Suspicious Package will be used to call up the app in the Finder.
