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Its worth mentioning that I'm a complete newbie to network security, and have only recently started playing around with Wireshark.

I used Wireshark to trace some network activity to a process called mDNSResponder. My google searches have resulted in old comments describing mDNSResponder's use in earlier versions of OS X. However, I'm running the newest version of macOS Sierra. As such, I'm concerned that it may be malware.

I have examined a second MacBook Pro, which is also running macOS Sierra. MDNSResponder is not running, nor is it installed. The MacBook Pro that has mDNSResponder installed has it located in /usr/sbin.

MDNSResponder is run by the user _mdnsrespond. It is actively sending and receiving packets.

A second process called MDNSResponderHelper is also running. It is being run by the root user. However, it is not sending or receiving packets.

I would appreciate it if anyone could clarify whether this is malware. If there is anything I can do to help with this, feel free to specify.

Thank you.

EDIT

After conducting further research and considering all of the responses, I have decided to reformat my machine. Both MacBook Pros were recently reformatted within days of each other, and have been connected to the same devices. I see no reason why mDNSResponder is necessarily installed and running on one machine and not the other. It is possible that it is not malware, but the network activity of mDNSResponder would make it an excellent target for malicious attacks. As such, I think it wise to reformat the machine.

After reformatting and updating my machine, mDNSResponder and MDNSResponderHelper are no longer installed. Despite this, the machine is still functioning normally.

I am not knowledgeable enough to claim whether mDNSResponder and MDNSResponderHelper were cleverly concealed malware, legitimate software, or otherwise, but I do think it was wise to reformat the machine. Hopefully this post will help others in the future.

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  • mDNSResponder service is associated with Bonjour, a network browsing service that auto-browses the network for resources. The difference between the two Macs might be found in their respective network. You could turn off Bonjour.
    – harrymc
    Nov 30, 2016 at 18:50
  • @harrymc When I followed your link and disabled mDNSResponder, I lost the ability to connect to the internet. Therefore, it does seem to be legitimate software. Even so, I wonder why one MacBook Pro has it installed and the other doesn't? Both function perfectly fine. Feel free to post your comment as an answer, so that I may close this question. Thank you. Nov 30, 2016 at 20:38

4 Answers 4

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The mDNSResponder service is associated with Bonjour, a network browsing service that auto-browses the network for resources. For example, it knows at all times about network printers and its list is up to date. That is what Bonjour does : It polls the local network segment and discovers devices that you can connect to.

The mDNSResponder service is the engine of Bonjour. Sometimes it can go a little crazy and there are enough articles on the web complaining about it.

There are two launch daemons that manage the Bonjour service. If they are unloaded, Bonjour will shut down and the mDNSResponder activity will stop.

The following commands might still do the job in OS X Sierra :

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.mDNSResponder.plist
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.mDNSResponderHelper.plist

Unfortunately, per your report, shutting down mDNSResponder also left you without Internet access. Well, at least this turned out to be the confirmation you asked for that this is a legitimate OS X process.

Since Bonjour is a network-browsing process, its presence on the one Mac but not on the other may be explained by some difference in the network. For example, it might be checking that a network printer is still available.

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    In recent versions of macOS, mDNSResponder is also the primary unicast DNS resolver agent, so shutting down mDNSResponder is terrible advice; you're disabling the OS's ability to do DNS resolution.
    – Spiff
    Dec 1, 2016 at 19:11
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    @Spiff: The question was if his mDNSResponder was malware or the real thing, and this question was answered here. Stopping it was the test. The poster is happy to let mDNSResponder do its job, now that it was confirmed as legit, and may even has a hint as to why it is more active on one Mac. Please pay more attention before down-voting.
    – harrymc
    Dec 1, 2016 at 20:08
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mDNSResponder is a standard system daemon that's been part of Mac OS X / OS X / macOS for the last 14 years.

In recent versions of OS X / macOS it's also the primary way that DNS resolution is done.

In mid-2014 in OS X Yosemite (OS X v10.10, which was two major versions ago as of this writing) Apple replaced mDNSResponder with a new daemon called discoveryd, but ended up switching back to mDNSResponder as of OS X Yosemite v10.10.4 a few months later.

After reformatting and reinstalling your machine, unless you downgraded yourself to 10.10.0 – 10.10.3 and stayed there, you certainly do still have mDNSResponder installed. I'm not sure why you think you don't. In fact, even in 10.10.0 – 10.10.3, I think mDNSResponder would have been installed but not activated. If you're on macOS Sierra, DNS wouldn't be working for 90% of your system if mDNSResponder wasn't installed and running.

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  • I have checked the system files and can confirm that mDNSResponder is no longer installed. Both machines are running updated versions of OS X. Dec 2, 2016 at 1:04
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mDNSResponder is back (albeit not in Pog form...), so I guess you are fine:

Word on the street is that going back to mDNSResponder allowed Apple to close 300 separate bug reports. And apparently the company wasn't looking to reopen those reports, as OS X 10.11 comes with mDNSResponder version 624.1.2

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  • I have updated the OP with more information. In this case, shouldn't it also be running on my second Mac? Nov 28, 2016 at 8:25
  • @ThePointer It depends on exactly what version of OS X your second Mac is running. mDNSResponder was replaced by discoveryd in 10.10.0, and then restored ('cause discoveryd was buggy) in 10.10.4. So if your second Mac is running something in the 10.0.{0-3} range, it should not have mDNSResponder; if it's running something outside that range, I have no idea why mDNSResponder would be missing from it. Dec 1, 2016 at 19:22
  • @GordonDavisson As I mentioned, both machines are updated. Dec 2, 2016 at 2:21
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This is part of Bonjour and is a service that is needed to run many different programs, applications, and processes. It's not Malware. The reason you sere it running on one and not the other is likely. Because one is running something different than the other.

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