Cross-Platform Patch Management

Managing software updates across Windows, macOS, and Android devices is one of the most critical responsibilities for IT and security teams. According to the Ponemon Institute's "Today's State of Vulnerability Response" study, conducted for ServiceNow, 60% of breach victims say their breach could have been prevented by installing an available patch. Yet most teams are still running separate tools for each OS: WSUS for Windows, Jamf for macOS, something else for mobile, and none of them talk to each other.

Cross-platform patch management solves this by handling updates across every operating system from a single console. But not all platforms treat every OS equally. Most were built for Windows first, and macOS and application patching were added later as checkboxes. For organizations running Mac-heavy fleets, that gap matters.

What is cross-platform patch management?

Cross-platform patch management is the process of updating and securing devices that run different operating systems (Windows, macOS, and Android) from one unified system. A patch is a software update that fixes security vulnerabilities, resolves bugs, or adds features. For Windows and macOS, this includes direct control over OS and application updates. For Android, where OS patching is controlled by Google and device manufacturers, cross-platform tools focus on device management and compliance visibility.

Why it matters

Fewer devices slip through the cracks. When you're managing separate tools for each platform, it's easy for a subset of devices to fall behind. According to the 2024 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), vulnerability exploitation as an initial access vector nearly tripled year over year, rising 180% and accounting for 14% of all breaches. The 2025 Verizon DBIR showed the trend accelerating: exploitation of vulnerabilities rose another 34% to account for 20% of all breaches. The average organization takes 55 days to patch 50% of its critical vulnerabilities, which gives attackers a well-documented window to act.

Application patching is the real gap. Most cross-platform tools handle OS updates reasonably well. Where they fall short is third-party applications: Chrome, Zoom, Slack, Adobe products, and the dozens of other apps your workforce runs daily. These applications frequently carry more vulnerabilities than the operating systems themselves, and their built-in auto-updaters fail silently in enterprise environments. The strongest platforms maintain a large catalog of applications that update automatically without IT having to package, test, or deploy each one manually.

Compliance reporting without the scramble. Auditors expect uniform patch policies regardless of device type. When everything lives in one system, you can pull a report covering your entire fleet in minutes rather than stitching together exports from three different platforms.

Patch Management Maturity Model

Most teams have a patching problem but are not sure exactly what kind. Here is a four-level framework that maps where most teams fall and what is at stake at each level. A more detailed version, with a scored self-assessment, transition plans, and a full case study, is available in the Patch Management Maturity Model ebook.

Level 1: Reactive

Patching happens in response to incidents or audit findings, not on any regular schedule. There is no defined owner, and the team cannot answer basic questions like "Are we patched against this week's critical CVE?" CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog shows that many weaponized vulnerabilities had patches available well before exploitation began, sometimes by weeks or months. Iru's threat intelligence research documents how macOS-targeting malware like Atomic Stealer and XCSSET exploit exactly these gaps. At Level 1, those patches sit undeployed.

Level 2: Scheduled

The team patches on a regular cycle, typically monthly. OS patches go out reliably, but third-party applications get updated only when someone has time. Monthly cycles mean that a critical CVE disclosed the day after your maintenance window sits unpatched for up to 30 days. MOVEit (CVE-2023-34362) is exactly this scenario: CISA and the FBI confirmed that the CL0P ransomware group began exploiting the vulnerability in May 2023, before Progress Software's advisory was even published on June 1. The DHS Cyber Safety Review Board found a similar pattern with Log4Shell (CVE-2021-44228), where exploitation began rapidly enough to earn a place on CISA's list of top routinely exploited vulnerabilities within the same month of disclosure. Organizations on monthly patch cycles had no practical way to close either gap in time.

Level 3: Visibility-Driven

The team has good visibility into what needs patching, but remediation is still largely manual. The queue of medium and low severity issues grows faster than the team can clear it. That backlog is not harmless: chaining medium-severity vulnerabilities is a documented technique, and the longer those sit unpatched, the larger the exposure surface. According to the 2025 Verizon DBIR, nearly three-quarters of companies take over a month to remediate vulnerabilities after detection.

Level 4: Autonomous

Patching is largely automated and driven by risk rather than schedules. Critical CVEs get patched within hours. Devices that drift out of compliance self-remediate.

Here is a concrete example: Chrome regularly releases updates, and in a typical environment, a stable release might sit unpatched for two weeks or longer while IT waits for the next maintenance window. Now imagine a zero-day critical CVE is published against that version. With severity-based automated remediation (what Iru calls Vulnerability Response), the platform detects the CVE on every Mac in the fleet, matches it against the installed version of Chrome through the Auto Apps catalog, and enforces the update immediately. No ticket filed, no manual intervention. The routine Chrome update can wait on its normal schedule. The zero-day cannot. Same platform, different enforcement rules based entirely on CVE severity, all through a single Library Item configuration.

Get the full framework

Download the Patch Management Maturity Model ebook for a 5-minute scored self-assessment, detailed transition plans for each level, and a full case study from Canva's 5,000-device deployment showing how they moved from Level 3 to Level 4.

Supported operating systems

macOS: Apple's built-in Software Update works fine for individuals but does not give IT the deployment controls or fleet-wide visibility they need. Many cross-platform tools bolt macOS support onto a Windows-first architecture and treat application patching as secondary. Purpose-built macOS management uses MDM protocols to automate OS updates, and the strongest platforms extend that to application patching through an Auto Apps library that the platform hosts, updates, and deploys without IT ever touching an installer.

Android: OS updates come on manufacturer schedules, and older devices may stop receiving updates entirely. What cross-platform tools add is device management, policy enforcement, app deployment through managed Google Play, and visibility into which devices are running outdated OS versions.

Third-party apps: Chrome, Firefox, Zoom, Slack, Adobe products, and similar apps. Look for platforms with a large pre-packaged catalog that can enforce updates based on vulnerability severity rather than just version number.

Time-based vs. risk-based patching

Most organizations patch on fixed schedules: a critical CVE disclosed Monday still waits until Thursday's window or next month's Patch Tuesday. The 2025 Verizon DBIR puts the median time to patch edge device vulnerabilities at 32 days, while only 54% of organizations achieved full remediation.

Risk-based patching responds to vulnerability severity instead of calendar dates. The platform matches detected CVEs against installed applications, applies the enforcement rules you have already defined (enforce immediately for critical, within a timeframe for high, no action for low), and pushes the update through the same agent that manages the device. The quality of your application catalog matters here: a platform that hosts and pre-tests 200+ applications can enforce an update the same day a CVE is published because the patched version is already ready to deploy.

How Canva did it: Canva manages over 5,000 devices across multiple countries. Rather than defaulting to monthly patching, they set remediation timelines based on vulnerability severity, centralized automated patching for over 70 applications, and built dashboards tracking vulnerability age percentiles. The full case study, including the specific failures they ran into and how they resolved them, is in the Patch Management Maturity Model ebook.

What to look for in cross-platform patch management software

Pay particular attention to how the platform handles macOS application patching. Ask whether the tool maintains a large Auto Apps-style catalog, whether it can detect a vulnerable application on a Mac and enforce the update automatically based on CVE severity, and whether it can patch applications that were installed outside official channels (shadow IT). If the answer involves stitching together multiple products and agents, you are looking at a Level 3 workflow wearing a Level 4 label.

Iru's unified platform addresses these challenges by bringing identity, endpoint management, and compliance into a single system, eliminating the fragmentation that creates most device management problems.

Simplify patching across every platform with Iru

Iru's unified platform puts endpoint management, identity, and compliance automation in one place. A single lightweight agent covers Mac and Windows, while Android devices are managed through MDM protocols. Built on deep Apple expertise, Iru delivers macOS and application patching capabilities that most cross-platform tools cannot match.

Auto Apps: A curated catalog of 200+ pre-packaged, pre-tested applications for Mac and 150+ for Windows. The Iru Agent caches update files locally, installs silently when apps are closed, and prompts users proactively when action is required. Auto Apps even covers shadow IT: if a user downloads Spotify or Figma on their own, the agent detects it and keeps it current through Update Only mode.

Managed OS: Automated operating system updates for Apple devices with staged rollouts, enforcement timeframes, and end-user prompting. Windows OS updates are managed through native Windows Update mechanisms.

Library Items: Everything in Iru, from Auto Apps to OS updates to security configurations, is deployed through Library Items: modular, drag-and-drop building blocks that IT assigns to devices through a visual Assignment Map. Adding Vulnerability Response to your fleet is a single Library Item added to a Blueprint, not a multi-step configuration project.

Vulnerability Management: Real-time detection powered by the same lightweight agent. The Iru Agent continuously detects software changes across Mac and Windows devices, matching installed applications against vulnerability intelligence from the National Vulnerability Database (NVD), product vendors, and the broader CVE database. Iru's vulnerability research covers specific CVEs affecting Apple and third-party software, with detection built directly into the platform. Hourly inventory updates ensure detection stays current.

Vulnerability Response: The feature that moves teams from Level 3 to Level 4. Available today as a Library Item for macOS, Vulnerability Response automatically patches any vulnerable app in the Auto Apps catalog based on CVE severity and the rules you define. A zero-day in Chrome triggers an immediate update across your Mac fleet. A routine low-severity finding waits for off-hours.

Book a demo to see cross-platform patch management, identity management, and compliance automation working together, or download the Patch Management Maturity Model ebook to assess where your team falls and build a plan to get to Level 4.