Delay your Upgrade to macOS 14.4 on Apple Silicon Systems

UPDATE March 26, 2024

The issue was addressed in macOS 14.4.1, and it’s now safe to update your macOS to this version.

Problem Caused by macOS 14.4

The macOS 14.4 update on aarch64 platforms (Apple M-processors) contains a severe regression that has a critical impact on a wide range of applications, including JDK. You can learn more at https://bugs.openjdk.org/browse/JDK-8327860.

Due to a sudden change within macOS 14.4 regarding memory protection management, the OpenJDK implementation now receives unexpected signals in some situations. This can cause the Java process running a Java application to exit immediately without warning.

This issue impacts Java versions 8 to 22. Notably, it was absent in the early access versions of macOS 14.4. There is no workaround for this issue in OpenJDK, so Java users on macOS 14 are advised to hold off on upgrading to macOS 14.4. Azul and the OpenJDK community are working with Apple to fix this regression in macOS.