Finder crashes when searching for "cube" on Mac

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Level 1

18 points

Finder crashes when searching for "cube" on Mac

This is a post from the MacOS community. I'm posting this here because I have FCP with ColorFinalePro2 & DaVinci on my desktop Mac. Also, more people to whom this might happen will see it. And yes, I know how to work around the problem.

This is an issue that I've spent 83 minutes on 2 calls over the last 2 days with Apple Support. I have a Mac Mini M2 Pro with 32 gb of ram & running 26.1. I recently got some LUTs & I wanted to see where they go. The extension for LUTs is .cube so I typed that in the search bar on a finder window. When I typed the last letter "e" my finder windows disappeared for a moment. Tried it again without the . and the same thing happened. I didn't get any popup saying the finder crashed. I contacted Apple Support & I stumped the AI, it passed me onto a real person (my apologies to them because I asked if they were a person & not AI- I missed the transfer), who after being stymied scheduled a call immediately with engineers. We restarted in Safe Mode & the Finder crashed when cube was typed in search. We reinstalled the OS & reindexed overnight. Today, the same thing happened. I used EtreCheckPro2 & sure enough it said the Finder had crashed. I took a screenshot sent it to Apple Support & after a long phone call it was escalated. Hopefully they'll figure it out. They've been awesome.

Now for the kicker: I typed in cube in the finder window of my 2018 MacBook Air with 14.8.2 & the Finder crashed, too. So, type cube in your search & let me know if it happens to you.

Today, I tried searching for CUBE on my late 2013 MacPro 12.7.6 & the finder didn't crash. I'm supposed to hear back from Apple in the next few days.

Posted on Nov 17, 2025 2:13 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

joema

Level 4

1,137 points

Nov 18, 2025 4:08 PM in response to SWMIL

We appreciate the report. I confirm it happens on Tahoe 26.1 on my M1 Ultra Mac Studio.

I'm glad you persevered, but I don't understand why this issue took 83 minutes on multiple calls to Apple Support. It is 100% reproducible. It took me 60 seconds to read your post, think about it, reproduce the bug, and examine the crash file.

I then tried it on my M1 Max MacBook Pro 16 running Sequoia 15.7.2, and Finder crashed there also. That took about 60 additional seconds. If I were working in Apple macOS support, it would take about 5 minutes to file a bug using Feedback Assistant or whatever internal tool they use.

A Google search shows this problem has been known and reported for several years. A year ago a Github bug was filed here: https://github.com/lgarron/first-world/issues/223

And an Apple "OpenRadar" bug here: https://openradar.appspot.com/FB16072697

Those were not just simple reports of "It crashed," but included technical info, repro scenario and crash files.

The easiest way around this bug is using Finder's drop-down menus to build the same search. By default it doesn't include searching on "file extension" but you can add that:

In Finder do CMD+F
Open the left-hand "Pop-up" button and select "Other"
Scroll down and enable "file extension" search. It is thereafter always available.
In Finder do CMD+F
Enter file extension such as "cube" or anything else.
Does not crash for .cube file extension

See attached. Other useful search options can be enabled such as codecs, pixel height, pixel width, video bit rate, camera type, etc.

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Answer 2

BenB

Level 6

13,166 points

Nov 17, 2025 4:46 PM in response to SWMIL

I just tried it and yes, the Finder closes and immediately reopens. Had to do it a few time to be sure, cause it was fast. But yes, seems macOS 26.1 crashes when "cube" is typed into the Finder's search field. That's really weird! Tried it on a client's 2019 MBP (Intel) with macOS 26.1 and the same thing happened, Finder crashes and relaunches really fast.

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Answer 3

Nov 17, 2025 11:12 PM in response to BenB

I have experienced it in four different macs, in Sequoia and Tahoe.

Weird.

Incidentally, this only happens, as far as I can tell, when searching for "cube" or ".cube" in the search box in a Finder window. Searching specifically by name, like this, works:

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