Mac OS X Server: Macintosh Manager, Access To Applications Not Allowed

This article explains why when using Macintosh Manager users are able to open application programs not in their Workgroup approved items.
There are several settings that can allow access to items not in a users Workgroup approved items. First, the Administrator has the option to allow applications to be opened by other applications (sub-launched), on a per application basis. This option is accessed by choosing Application Preferences from the Configuration menu. For the sake of tighter security, the default setting is to not allow applications to be sub-launched.

If an Administrator sets the option to allow sub-launching of an application, then that application can be opened from the Restricted Finder. Macintosh Manager does not see this situation as a security risk and allows it to happen.

To work around this, simply disable the "Allow this Application to be opened by other Applications" option for all applications that you do not want users to be able to access. The application will show up in Application Preferences once it has been added to any workgroup.

To enable helper applications for something such as a web browser without granting access to the helper application itself, enable the "Applications can open other applications, such as helper applications" option in the Security tab of the Computers tab. This setting does not apply to the shell application (Finder or Panels) so it will not override the approved application settings for the workgroup. Finder and Restricted Finder are environments where the Finder is shell application and the Panels environment has Panels as its shell application.

A user will also be able to launch non-approved items in the following situations:

Published Date: Feb 17, 2012