Autoupdate (1.8.0).app keeps asking for admin privileges, then adds a copy of itself to trash? (OSX)

[jaldmn]

So this is a bit of an odd one and it's taken some time to track down Sparkle as the cause (I think)

Essentially, a few days ago I started getting prompts for elevated privileges for Autoupdate.app, with no context about what app was being updated. I refused the first few of these, then got curious and did some googling - no hits. Couldn't find any 'autoupdate.app' files on my HDD so got bored and granted access.

Even when I provided elevated rights via the prompt, the prompts kept coming; always starting at about 01:00 GMT.

Today I noticed my trash is full of various iterations of 'Autoupdate (1.8.0).app'; diving into the package contents I found a few references to Sparkle, hence my posts here.

Is this some fault with Sparkle? If so, how do I fix it? It's a bit disconcerting to constantly have prompts popping up asking for admin access...!

[kornelski]

Some application is trying to use Sparkle framework to update itself. Autoupdate.app is a helper application that replaces old version of an app with a new one.

It's weird that in Trash you're seeing copies of Autoupdate.app, rather than copies of actual app that has been updated. It's not supposed to happen like that — it could be a bug in Sparkle, or in the app that is using Sparkle.

Can you find which application is trying to run the update? When you see the prompt, run in Terminal:

 ps aux | grep Autoupdate

[jaldmn]

Thanks for your post - think I've highlighted the problem (but don't have a solution, more a workaround...)

The app is 'Duet' - a recently released programme which can use an iOS device as a second monitor for a computer running OSX

I downloaded Duet, then moved the .app file to the Applications folder. However, the user account I'm logged into does not have administrative rights so cannot write to the Applications folder without me providing admin credentials, so I guess Duet is going to update using Sparkle, finding it can't write to the Applications folder (as that needs elevation), so stops and prompts.

I've moved Duet.app out of the applications folder and into an alternative which doesn't need admin rights for r/w access; think the issue is solved, but there's still a bug of sorts here (albeit for a minority of users in my situation).

[jonchui]

Just had this happen with me. At first i was worried "Autoupdate" was a cleverly-named trojan program or something.

It also is moving old Autoupdate's into trash:
http://cl.ly/image/3Q2z0n1r2o3b

However, i don't have duet installed. So it must be another program?

iMac 27" (late 2009 model)
10.10.5 Yosemite

Please tell me how i can help debug.

[kornelski]

In 1.12+ this part of process has been refactored, so it should behave better.

As for the "Autoupdate" name itself, that's the default name for a helper app that performs installation. Developers have ability to customize that name in "ConfigCommon.xcconfig".

Please reopen if still happens with 1.12 or later.