A significant kernel flaw has been discovered in macOS that prevents the system from establishing new TCP connections. The issue occurs specifically when a machine remains powered on continuously for 49 days, 17 hours, 2 minutes, and 47 seconds.
The Cause: A 32-bit Counter Overflow
The failure stems from an internal 32-bit unsigned counter that tracks system uptime in milliseconds. Once the timer reaches 2³² milliseconds, a validation error in the code stops the counter from updating. Consequently, the value freezes, breaking network functions such as:
- Loading web pages
- App synchronization
- New outgoing network requests
How memory to fix it
Currently, the only known solution to resolve the freeze is to restart your Mac. While reported by the Photon blog, it remains unclear if Apple is officially working on a patch for this specific kernel bug.
