No definition updates in two days for Antivirus for Mac

Hello @sleepdoc,

Based on my findings, the latest definitions update was at 2024-01-12 04:12:17 for mac. The available data shows that updates were successfully carried out, so I'm not sure what happened in your case..

It did update late last night. Thanks!

Good to hear this, thanks for following up. 👍️

And once again, to the brink. Last update for 1/29 9:21 am eastern time US; we are now 52 hours after that thereabouts. Requesting that the software Update threat information database show that "Antivirus for Mac is up to date." So it isn't an issue with connecting to the server where the definitions are.

I wish I had a better sense of when to reach out for assistance. I feel like this happens 1-2 times per month and then it catches up. Maybe I should be waiting 3-4 days? I have no real preference..... just wish I knew.

Is there a place online where I can see when the most recent thread database updates for the program were published?

https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/32547/

Hi @sleepdoc,

The latest update timestamp is 2024-02-01 07:34:06.

The threat database updates are not published online, only the major updates are available at this location:

I also publish the changelogs for the latest builds on this thread:

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/91738/product-updates-and-release-notes

Going forward, I can't really say what could be the reason behind the delays you are experiencing. But I think the Support engineers could help identify the root cause. Should you wish to contact them and make an inquiry about this, you can use the link below:

https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/help/

Scroll down to state your contact reason, then choose from the available contact channels, chat, phone and email/ticket. Chat would be the fastest way to reach them.

Let me know how it goes, I'm very curious to know what's going on there as well.

Regards,

Alex

Will try this again. I have tried before and all they recommend is an uninstall / reinstall. But I tried that and it hasn't permanently fixed the problem. And then the problem resolves itself after a few days. But I will try again and report back. Thanks!

And it finally updated this morning at 937 am eastern. I am so confused. I'll let you know what the support folks say :P

As always, I appreciate you!!!

Thank you for following up @sleepdoc. And for your appreciation. 🙂

We do our best here to come up with answers, but this time I couldn't find anything wrong with the definitions update timestamp and I did ask around, so maybe there's something else that's delaying the updates in your case.. please do let us know what the Support teams advise.

Enjoy Bitdefender and keep in touch on the forum.

Regards,

Alex

FYI: I also noticed an absence of threat information database updates from 29 JAN through 1 FEB 2024, using Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac (9.4.1.4) on macOS 14.3.

@Alexandru_BD, please ask the appropriate Bitdefender team to consider publishing an online log of the threat information database updates, to allow users to determine when updates have been issued. (Thank you.)

Well it is reassuring that it isn't just me, at least. I am also on 14.3 with version 9.4.1.4, on a 2023 iMac M3.

Normal updating today FWIW

Back again with a recurrence. Last update 19 FEB 11:21 AM eastern US time. Currently 45+ hours later with requests to update showing "Antivirus for Mac is up to date". No error in reaching the server noted.

The support team sadly didn't offer much in the way of feedback, saying the updates are staggered and roll out differentially based upon location and operating system. Also didn't offer any feedback on what would be a long enough gap between definition updates that would warrant reaching out again.

Sigh.

Hi @sleepdoc,

Yes, the Support teams no visibility of the update rollout status, but these are indeed carried out based upon location, batch and OS. I can tell you that the latest definitions update on macOS took place earlier this morning.

I've made another inquiry about this, to see if I can find out what could be causing the delay in your case.

Regards,

Alex

Canard1066

Same Issue here.

No update for 3 days in the UK.

Thanks @Canard1066

Now more than 72 hours myself.

@Alexandru_BD - It sounds like this may actually be a more prevalent issue than is being actively reported; it seems likely that many users will not keep an eye on their updates. Of course, you are the expert. But I wish the rest of the support team weren't as dismissive as they seem to be of this problem. Just because it has always resolved itself in the past after a few days doesn't mean there isn't a bug in the system somewhere that should be squashed.

And I'd be curious to see if @Pleonasm has also had a recurrence over this time frame.

Ok, so I did some digging and found out that there are still some issues on the arm location and this affects some intervals when the updates are not uploaded fast enough. I don't know exactly the technical reasons behind this, and sometimes it takes time to fix them, but the developers assured us that their main focus is to prevent this from happening again in the future. I regret the inconvenience caused by this delay.

Thank you everyone for sharing your feedback here. 👍️

Alex

That is incredibly valuable information. Glad to hear that we may have identified a root cause!

as of 130 am eastern us time this morning, I did receive an update!

@sleepdoc, I also noticed an absence of threat information database updates on 20 FEB, 21 FEB, and 22 FEB 2024; using Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac (9.4.1.4) on macOS 14.3.1. In addition, three errors are present in the Notifications log ("error code -1011") over this period.

Updates are now occurring successfully (23 FEB).

@Pleonasm

Thanks. Sounds like you and I (and presumably @Canard1066 ) are linked by this bug. Perhaps that will help the team sort it out.

Happy Friday everyone!

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/341223#Comment_341223

Hate to bring this up again, but here we are. As before, I am having no issues connecting to the server, with update attempts telling me that I am up to date. But the last virus definition update was July 15 at 1:24 pm eastern time zone US (almost 60 hours ago).

I believe we were previously told that this was a server issue that had been remedied. But it is back for me. Curious if @Canard1066 or @Pleonasm are seeing the same.

Canard1066

Hello.

My Anti-Virus for Mac updated today (Thursday 18 July) at 7.06am BST (GMT+1).

However my system is still on version 10.1.0.8 and not updated to the latest version 10.1.1.4

Flexx

Bitdefender product updates are released in batches. Sooner or later you will get the latest product update (version 10.1.1.4).

You can be sure that you will always get the latest malware detection database, irrespective of the product update. This means that even though you haven't received the full product update yet, your system is still protected from the latest threats.

Regards

@sleepdoc, I also experienced a 60-hour period (15-18 JUL) without receiving any updates to the threat information database for Antivirus for Mac. Today, the database has been updated 5 times, and the application updated to version 10.1.1.5 (macOS 14.5 ) as well.

As of this moment, I am still on 10.1.0.8 but haven't received any definition updates in >72 hours. When I trigger an update, I am told "antivirus for Mac is up to date."

@Flexx this seems contradictory to "you will always get the latest malware detection database." Although it may not be a direct consequence of the slightly older version number, there is clearly some sort of update issue ongoing here.

And now it literally just updated. Coincidence?

I'm having the same problem. No signature updates since the 18th. Sometimes Bitdefender will go two days without updating.

@VineRider Are you also being told that the program is "up to date" when you ask it to update?

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/341328#Comment_341328

Yes, when I select update threat information database, the program tells me that it is up to date.

southerndoc

Where is the log that details when threats are updated?

I don't know where that is located, but you would think at a minimum there would be daily updates.

I would love for @Alexandru_BD to weigh in on this. Several months ago, he had reported identification of an internal problem that should be rectified that may have contributed to the irregularity of updates, but given that the irregularity persists, I suspect that the problem has not been completely addressed.

@southerndoc I am unaware of a log that shows the most recent "virus definitions" (for lack of a better term), but given that I typically receive updates 2x/day, going 3-4 days without an update suggests an issue, especially because other posters on this forum seem to continue to get them when I (and others, it seems) are not getting them. If I knew that the updates were occasionally not being published twice per day but instead only twice per week, there would not be an issue. I do not think this is the case.

This is a common occurrence for me on a MacBook Pro and a Mac mini. Both exhibit the behavior. They will go a few days with no updates and then strangely start getting them, only to cease a few days later.

I cannot find any rhyme or reason for this and I've tried rebooting and also re-installing. When you reboot, it claims that it updates right after the restart, but there is no way to verify this actually happened as we don't know what version the threat database is.

This is 100% consistent with what I am experiencing as well. I agree about the reboot. Shows an update at the time of reboot, but has never been clear to me that it is real, and the problem persists thereafter. The uninstall/reinstall did nothing to alleviate the problem.

@VineRider This morning at 3:26 am local time (GMT -5) I received a spontaneous update. The first in about four days.

Wondering if you had something similar occur?

Yes, I got an update on both machines last night.

And I've received another update spontaneously, about 12 hours later.

While I am not a software expert, nor an expert in how Bitdefender works, I am a reasonably logical person (contrary to what my wife might suggest), and I believe this pattern of findings implies that this continues to be an issue on the Bitdefender server side, and not on my personal computer (or that of the others on this chain who report similar phenomenology).

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/341379#Comment_341379

I received no updates to the threat information database for 72 hours (19 - 22 JUL), using Antivirus for Mac 10.1.1.5 on macOS 14.5.

It is possible that Bitdefender did not actually update its threat information database for this extended period. However, from an epistemological perspective, the more intuitively likely explanation is that Bitdefender is having difficulty in consistently pushing updates to Mac machines?

Flexx

Kindly contact Bitdefender support by visiting https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/help

Select, How to's & Troubleshooting Bitdefender products→Troubleshooting→I don't know→Contact Support→ You will get the option of chat, call or email.

Regards

Hello,

I know you were expecting updates from me, but unfortunately I don't have more insights regarding the update mechanism here. As far as I know, delays could have been caused by a recurring issue which we discussed previously on this thread, however, I cannot be sure of this. Nevertheless, the engineers are also looking into it, following your posts here. I think the best way to move forward would be to open an inquiry for the Support teams, as they can work together with the developers to find the root cause, based on the information collected from you directly.

@Flexx Thanks. I have in the past and am again in the process of working with Bitdefender support on this matter. While the folks with whom I have interacted using that interface are generally lovely and prompt to respond, I have unfortunately found them to be very strict in their approach of requesting a program reinstall (I suspect they will again, although I will likely refuse this time, given the lack of prior benefits to this approach). They also won't necessarily see the pattern of problems we are identifying here unless they come to this board and review (which I have also recommended and linked in the support request).

Perhaps you could also plant a bug in the developers' collective ears? At the minimum, to better investigate this problem, it would be helpful to have a site where users could look to see the time and date of the most recent definition update; better yet, what if the program itself could be queried to tell you the "version number" of the malware database which could be compared to an online reference to confirm the issues being suggested in this thread?

I understand that it isn't easy to make changes to the standard operating procedures (and a massively distributed program like Bitdefender), but I am hopeful that they would take it into consideration, at the very least.

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/341399#Comment_341399

I think the suggestion of a release history of the signature updates would be good. At the very least, you could determine if you are getting the latest updates or not.

My experience with other antivirus software is that the signatures get updated at the minimum of once a day, and many times, several times per day….so, when you don't see updates for several days, you start to wonder if you are exposed to a known attack, but do not have the updated defenses on your machines.

I suspect that this is a back end issue with BItdefender or a bug in the update component on the Mac. I did finally get updated to the latest Bitdefender client today, and the updates seem to be working at the moment.

Flexx

Perhaps you could also plant a bug in the developers' collective ears? At the minimum, to better investigate this problem, it would be helpful to have a site where users could look to see the time and date of the most recent definition update; better yet, what if the program itself could be queried to tell you the "version number" of the malware database which could be compared to an online reference to confirm the issues being suggested in this thread?

@Alexandru_BD, can you get this checked with the developers of Mac product?

Regards

RE: "…it would be helpful to have a site where users could look to see the time and date of the most recent definition update; better yet, what if the program itself could be queried to tell you the "version number" of the malware database which could be compared to an online reference…". (sleepdoc)

In my opinion, this is an excellent recommendation - and, one that Bitdefender will hopefully explore and eventually implement. It will enable a user to confirm whether the most recent available update to the threat information database is installed on Antivirus for Mac.

interestingly, @VineRider , i also got the update to push me to the new version of bitdefender today.

Since we know that program updates are pushed out in waves, and that you and I are apparently in the same wave, i also wonder if individuals slotted in the same wave are also slotted to the same update server for definition deployments. This might explain why you and i are suffering with the same malady when there are others who are not.

Just a thought..,. But diagnoses are often made by pattern recognition.

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/341425#Comment_341425

Hello,

I think this calls for a feature request. The suggestion can be posted in the below category, where community members can also vote. Following the post, the idea is automatically sent to the Bitdefender product development teams for consideration.

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/categories/product-features-and-ideation

Before posting, kindly review the guidelines here, to ensure that the idea has maximum chances of success:

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/94953/guidelines-for-product-features-ideation

Thanks,

Alex

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/341427#Comment_341427

This could be. So far, after yesterday's application update, I seem to be getting threat database updates.

I am now on application version 10.1.1.5.

And I'm back once again. No updates (again) in 48 hours. I think it had been fairly reliable since my last post 1 month ago (at least once per day).

Over the period 21-27 AUG 2024, my experience is that Antivirus for Mac (10.1.1.5 on macOS 14.6.1) has successfully installed at least one update per day to the threat information database. However, no updates have been installed for the past 46 hours.

Same here - no updates since the 27th. Wonder if someone from Bitdefender can confirm if updates have been sent, or if they just haven't sent any out (which I would find hard to believe).