Zotero 10.0.8 startup crash on macOS 10.15: libZoteroWordIntegration minos 12.0

jinpf

Environment


  • Zotero 10.0.8 (buildID 20261106121736, platform 140.17.0esr), received via silent auto-update from 10.0.7 on 2026-11-11

  • macOS 10.15.1 (19B88), Intel x86_64

  • Reproduces with a brand-new profile and with -safe-mode, so it is not plugin/profile related

Summary

After the automatic update 10.0.7 → 10.0.8, Zotero crashes on every launch. The crash happens in a DOM Worker while dlopen’ing the bundled Word integration library. Reverting to 10.0.7 resolves it immediately. The 10.0.8 dylib declares deployment target macOS 12.0, while the app advertises LSMinimumSystemVersion 10.9 and the official system requirements state macOS 10.15 or later.

Steps to reproduce


  1. On macOS 10.15.1, update Zotero 10.0.7 → 10.0.8.

  2. Launch Zotero. It crashes within ~20 seconds, every time.

  3. GUI-free reproduction: dlopen the bundled dylib from a minimal C program:

#include <dlfcn.h>
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void) {
    void *h = dlopen("/Applications/Zotero.app/Contents/Resources/integration/word-for-mac/libZoteroWordIntegration.dylib", RTLD_NOW);
    printf("handle=%p err=%s\n", h, dlerror());
    return h ? 0 : 1;
}

Zotero 10.0.8: exit 139 (SIGSEGV).
Zotero 10.0.7: loads successfully (valid handle, no error).

Crash

Crashed thread: DOM Worker
Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV), EXC_I386_GPFLT

_platform_strlen
objc_opt::objc_stringhash_t::getIndex(char const*)
_dyld_get_objc_selector
search_builtins
__sel_registerName
map_images_nolock
map_images
dyld::notifyBatchPartial
ImageLoader::link
dlopen_internal
dlopen
PR_LoadLibraryWithFlags (libnss3)

An lldb breakpoint on dlopen shows the last load on the crashing DOM Worker thread:
/Applications/Zotero.app/Contents/Resources/integration/word-for-mac/libZoteroWordIntegration.dylib

Root-cause evidence


  • 10.0.8 dylib: LC_BUILD_VERSION sdk 26.2, minos 12.0
    SHA256 2e816462623d7a3db6d8bc6234c218f593edf4f407f8e1d34b31ca139b54cb05

  • 10.0.7 dylib: LC_VERSION_MIN_MACOSX version 10.9
    SHA256 c4b768a56bfcc981e4d99f5f4324f5e24be0a46e3a1d4aa9bc0bc840cb69029a

  • The dylib in a clean full Zotero-10.0.8.dmg has the same SHA256 as the auto-updated copy, and codesign --verify --deep --strict passes for the whole app, so this is the shipped build rather than a partial/corrupt update.

  • Both 10.0.7 and 10.0.8 declare LSMinimumSystemVersion = 10.9.0.

Impact

All macOS 10.15 users who auto-update to 10.0.8 will be unable to launch Zotero. The repeated crashes also trigger macOS’s persistent window-restoration alert, so the app appears simply not to open.

Workaround

Downgrade to 10.0.7, restore the pre-update zotero.sqlite.bak (userdata schema 130), and set app.update.auto=false to prevent a silent re-update.

Suggested fixes


  • Rebuild libZoteroWordIntegration.dylib with a macOS 10.15 deployment target, as in 10.0.7.

  • Until then, don't offer 10.0.8 to macOS 10.15 clients via the update service.

  • Add a release check for component deployment targets.

I can provide the full crash report if needed.

  • dstillman Zotero Team
    Thanks for the report — your diagnosis here was correct. This is fixed now in Zotero 10.0.9. You can re-enable app.update.auto and update via Help → Check for Updates.
    All macOS 10.15 users who auto-update to 10.0.8 will be unable to launch Zotero.
    This isn't the case. Users who already had the Word plugin installed shouldn't have gotten a startup crash, though they'd get a crash if they tried to cite in Word.

    (macOS 10.15 also accounts for a fraction of a percent of Mac Zotero users, and it would only affect anyone who restarted Zotero in the last few days.)
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