Apple reveals why macOS might block your Terminal prompt

Apple published a support document explaining why macOS blocks Terminal command pastes and scripts, detailing new security alerts introduced in macOS 26.4 to protect users from malware. The alerts appear for infrequent Terminal users copying commands from websites or messaging apps, and block known malicious content without an override option.

In macOS 26.4, Apple introduced https://9to5mac.com/2026/03/25/macos-26-4-has-new-terminal-popup-warning-when-pasting-commands/ new popup warnings when you try to paste a command into the Terminal. Now, a new support document explains why these and other Mac Terminal popups appear. Apple support document explains Terminal prompts being blocked by macOS Today Apple published a new support document https://support.apple.com/en-us/127377 titled, “If your Mac blocks a Terminal command paste or script.” When macOS 26.4 shipped earlier this year, it came with a new security feature to protect unsuspecting Mac users from Terminal-based malware. The feature is an alert informing you that your paste into Terminal has been blocked. It warns you that the text you were trying to paste might include malware. Until now though, we’ve never known when exactly this popup is intended to appear. Apple offers clarity in today’s new document though, which states: This alert appears if you don’t regularly use Terminal and you copied the command from somewhere like a website, chat agent, or messaging or email app. It seemed like the alert originally did appear for regular Terminal users, so it’s possible that behavior has changed since macOS 26.4. Similarly, Apple explains why you might receive a couple other types of Terminal alerts: If your Mac shows a “Malware Detected, Paste Blocked” or “Malicious Script Blocked” alert These alerts appear if macOS detects that a command or script contains known malware and blocks it. In these cases, the popup offers no option to continue pasting the text anyways. Instead, Apple says, “If you believe that this command or script was blocked because a website that it tries to access was incorrectly reported as deceptive, you can report an error https://websitereview.apple.com/ .” Have you seen any of these Terminal alerts? If so, are you a regular Terminal user? Let us know in the comments. Best Mac accessories AirPods Pro 3 https://amzn.to/3Peq3Ge now only $179 , down from $249 100W USB-C fast charging power adapter https://amzn.to/48EbPVU tomtoc protective MacBook sleeve bag https://amzn.to/42JhuGC Twelve South aluminum laptop stand for MacBooks https://amzn.to/3P2X1cy Anker Docking Station USB-C with Ethernet, HDMI, SD, more https://amzn.to/4tKVbfD FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More. https://9to5mac.com/about/ affiliate our homepage http://9to5mac.com/ for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on exclusive stories https://9to5mac.com/feature/exclusive/ , reviews https://9to5mac.com/guides/review/ , how-tos https://9to5mac.com/guides/how-to/ , and subscribe to our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/9to5mac