Is Steam for Mac effectively running as superuser?
- by godDLL
When you download the client it does not weigh too much, and seems to do very little. Inside the app bundle there is a script that—upon inspecting the environment and deciding you're not running Linux—launches the client, which downloads the full support environment and resources. For this to happen (all of this is saved inside the bundle, the app bundle gets updated in this process) Steam wants Universal Access for Assistive Devices, and your password.
Cacheable resources, preferences (like keyboard shortcuts), support files (like game hardware requirement lookup tables) live inside the bundle, not in ~/Library/{Application Support|Preferences|Cache}; games' data get dumped into ~/Documents/Steam Content.
I'd describe myself as a bit OCD (which really says a lot), and I wouldn't care that much still. I'd go comb this hairy mess and find out where stuff is, when and if I need to, even if it's in an unfamiliar place; that does not actually tick me off. Well, a little bit.
What makes me concerned is the way Steam needs both Access for Assistive Devices, and my password to run. The former gives it the ability to talk very intimately with running apps and the underlying system; while the latter (admin account) could very well give it and it's publishers unrestricted access to all my software, hardware and data. With publishers like Rockstar using scene NOCD cracks to publish their games on Steam, I'm not so sure I'm OK with this.
I'd like more games made available for the MacOS X and all the pretty machines that run it, but this arrangement does not seem very Mac-like to me. It looks like Valve is going around system security measures and best practices, foregoing sandboxing, code signing, relatively sane structured organization; all the things that would appeal to someone who's no fun at parties at all, and will die alone, in his long dead mother's basement… wait. Right. Anyway.
Can we get some input on Steam for Mac security at the end-user machine, from someone who understands how Accessibility API works, whether games distributed on Steam can read and write outside the user homefolder, collect data from other running apps, or similar?
