On August 24, 2026, Apple officially flagged the terminal command hdiutil as deprecated in the macOS 27 Golden Gate update. The tech giant recommended that users transition to the diskutil image utility, indicating that hdiutil is expected to be removed in subsequent macOS versions. hdiutil has been a staple tool for handling disk images since the early days of Mac OS X, offering functionalities such as mounting, creating, resizing, and ejecting disk image files. It has played a crucial role in system maintenance, backups, and disk repairs over the years.

Apple explained that diskutil image supports similar operations, including mounting, creating, resizing, viewing information, and modifying passwords for disk images. Additionally, it supports the ASIF format. However, it's important to note that diskutil image does not yet encompass all the features of hdiutil, and there are differences in how the two tools handle permissions and provide error feedback.

The decision to deprecate hdiutil may be linked to a security vulnerability that was addressed in October 2025. This vulnerability could have potentially allowed for arbitrary code execution when hdiutil was executed, posing a significant security risk.