Hunting a blue mouse cursor: Color profiles in macOS Catalina

Glowing cursor

Filtering blue light from screens at night helps match screens to lower color temperatures of night-time lighting and may help with sleep. The Night Shift feature built into macOS offers this capability out of the box and f.lux, a third party program, offers a more flexible and comprehensive implementation.

Upon upgrading my personal i7 MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012) to 10.15.4, I encountered an issue where both Night Shift and f.lux modified the colors of everything on the screen except the mouse cursor. The result: A garish blue cursor. Since both native and third-party color modifications were broken, this issue was clearly not caused by a bug in f.lux.

The mouse cursor did not glow in Mojave 10.14.x, so this is a regression in macOS.

A limited workaround

One answer on Apple support communities revealed a working workaround:

‘May or may not stick, but I was digging around in settings and under

Settings
Display
Color

I found a “calibration” option. I clicked through the steps, changing nothing, and when finished it gave me a new “profile” entitled “Color LCD Calibrated.”

The blue highlight then disappeared (at least it has for now).

While the workaround did indeed result in a well-behaved mouse cursor, the rest of the color calibration suffered. Light grays turned washed-out and bluish.

A calibration in “Expert Mode” yielded somewhat better colors but medium grays were tinged with purple. Color calibration screens are particularly sensitive to viewing angle, showing significant color shift even from moving my head an inch vertically at a normal viewing distance.

Tap or click to try for yourself:

Color calibration without specialized tools (a Datacolor Spyder, for example) was not going to yield a good, repeatable result.

Investigation

This issue does not occur on my work computer, an i7 MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015), which is also running Catalina 10.15.4. It also does not occur when the built-in display’s color profile is set to any profile other than the factory profile. The issue also does not occur even when I configure my personal computer’s built-in display to use the factory profile from my work computer.

However, the issue does occur in Catalina when using the Factory profile generated by Mojave, further cementing the case that this issue is a regression.

What is it about the factory color profile that triggers the glowing mouse cursor?

Factory Profiles

The following ICC files are the factory profiles for the two laptops’ built-in displays:

• Mojave - MacBook Pro 13-inch Mid 2012 Color LCD.icc - 7040 bytes
• Catalina - MacBook Pro 13-inch Mid 2012 Color LCD.icc - 7108 bytes
• Catalina - MacBook Pro 15-inch Retina Mid 2015 Color LCD.icc - 4064 bytes

I wrote a tool, icc_dump, to dump ICC color profiles to JSON, with the contents of binary tags included as hexdumps. Source code for the icc_dump tool is available on GitHub.

The following JSON files are the ICC factory profiles dumped using the icc_dump tool:

• Mojave - MacBook Pro 13-inch Mid 2012 Color LCD.json
• Catalina - MacBook Pro 13-inch Mid 2012 Color LCD.json
• Catalina - MacBook Pro 15-inch Retina Mid 2015 Color LCD.json

Comparison

The tool shows that the only difference between the Mid-2012 MacBook Pro’s Mojave and Catalina profiles are the creation time and spaces in international translations of the profile description:

--- Mojave - MacBook Pro 13-inch Mid 2012 Color LCD.json
+++ Catalina - MacBook Pro 13-inch Mid 2012 Color LCD.json
-    "ProfileDateTime": "2020:01:01 16:48:17",
+    "ProfileDateTime": "2020:03:26 20:12:07",
-    "ProfileDescriptionML-zh-CN": "\u5f69\u8272 LCD",
-    "ProfileDescriptionML-zh-TW": "\u5f69\u8272 LCD",
+    "ProfileDescriptionML-zh-CN": "\u5f69\u8272LCD",
+    "ProfileDescriptionML-zh-TW": "\u5f69\u8272LCD",

The differences between the Catalina profiles for the two different MacBook Pro machines are far more interesting. The differences start with the file size – the newer machine’s profile is about two-thirds the size of the old one’s.

The size difference comes from the NativeDisplayInfo and VideoCardGamma tables. In Apple’s ColorSync utility, these tags are shown as the ndin and vcgt tags, respectively.

--- Catalina - MacBook Pro 13-inch Mid 2012 Color LCD.json	2020-03-29 00:10:47.000000000 -0400
+++ Catalina - MacBook Pro 15-inch Retina Mid 2015 Color LCD.json	2020-03-29 00:10:42.000000000 -0400
-    "BlueMatrixColumn": "0.15047 0.05475 0.78662",
+    "BlueMatrixColumn": "0.14041 0.04907 0.74146",
-    "ChromaticAdaptation": "1.04788 0.02292 -0.0502 0.02957 0.99049 -0.01706 -0.00923 0.01508 0.75165",
+    "ChromaticAdaptation": "1.04861 0.02332 -0.05034 0.03018 0.99002 -0.01714 -0.00922 0.01503 0.75172",
-    "GreenMatrixColumn": "0.3978 0.72993 0.0314",
+    "GreenMatrixColumn": "0.37944 0.72617 0.07797",
-    "ICC_Profile_Vcgp": "76 63 67 70 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 02 66 66 00 03 00 00 00 02 66 66 00 03 00 00 00 02 66 66 00 00 00 02 19 98 ff ff 00 00 00 01 5c 28 00 00 00 00 00 01 bd 70 00 00",
+    "ICC_Profile_Vcgp": "76 63 67 70 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 02 66 66 00 03 00 00 00 02 66 66 00 03 00 00 00 02 66 66 00 00 00 02 33 33 34 00 00 00 00 02 33 33 34 00 00 00 00 02 33 33 34 00",
-    "MakeAndModel": "6d 6d 6f 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 06 10 00 00 9c c5 00 00 00 00 c6 7a e3 80 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00",
+    "MakeAndModel": "6d 6d 6f 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 06 10 00 00 a0 2e 00 00 00 00 d0 e5 ee 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00",
-    "MediaWhitePoint": "0.95047 1 1.0891",
+    "MediaWhitePoint": "0.94955 1 1.08902",
-    "NativeDisplayInfo": "6e 64 69 6e 00 00 00 00 00 00 06 36 00 00 a5 46 00 00 56 94 00 00 53 39 00 00 a5 8e 00 00 25 a8 00 00 0d 3c 00 00 50 0d 00 00 54 39 00 02 19 99 00 01 bd 70 00 01 5c 28 00 03 01 00 00 02 00 00 00 1e 00 41 00 62 00 83 00 a4 00 c5 00 e6 01 06 01 27 01 49 01 6b 01 8d 01 af 01 d1 01 f4 02 17 02 3b 02 5f 02 83 02 a8 02 ce 02 f3 03 1a 03 41 03 68 03 90 03 b8 03 e2 04 0b 04 36 04 61 04 8d 04 b9 04 e7 05 15 05 45 05 75 05 a6 05 d8 06 0c 06 41 06 77 06 ae 06 e8 07 22 07 5f 07 9e 07 de 08 22 08 68 08 b0 08 fd 09 4c 09 a0 09 f6 0a 50 0a ad 0b 0d 0b 6e 0b d2 0c 38 0c a1 0d 0b 0d 76 0d e3 0e 51 0e c1 0f 32 0f a4 10 19 10 90 11 09 11 85 12 02 12 82 13 05 13 89 14 10 14 99 15 25 15 b3 16 44 16 d8 17 6f 18 08 18 a4 19 43 19 e4 1a 87 1b 2d 1b d5 1c 7f 1d 2c 1d dc 1e 8e 1f 44 1f fd 20 ba 21 7a 22 3e 23 05 23 cf 24 9c 25 6b 26 3d 27 12 27 ea 28 c4 29 a2 2a 82 2b 65 2c 4c 2d 39 2e 2e 2f 2f 30 3e 31 55 32 6c 33 83 34 9a 35 b5 36 d3 37 f6 39 1d 3a 47 3b 76 3c a9 3d df 3f 19 40 57 41 99 42 df 44 28 45 75 46 c6 48 1a 49 67 4a 95 4b 97 4c 76 4d 40 4d ff 4e c1 4f 8c 50 6a 51 69 52 84 53 b0 54 e4 56 1a 57 53 58 8e 59 cc 5b 0d 5c 51 5d 96 5e d8 60 0f 61 33 62 47 63 55 64 64 65 7f 66 ab 67 e8 69 31 6a 81 6b d3 6d 28 6e 80 6f da 71 37 72 96 73 f8 75 57 76 ac 77 ed 79 17 7a 30 7b 42 7c 59 7d 7f 7e b9 80 09 81 68 82 cd 84 36 85 a2 87 0f 88 7e 89 e7 8b 41 8c 84 8d b5 8e e0 90 0e 91 4e 92 b0 94 34 95 c5 97 4e 98 cd 9a 48 9b c6 9d 51 9e f8 a0 c8 a2 be a4 b2 a6 97 a8 7a aa 69 ac 5b ae 41 b0 15 b1 e1 b3 ad b5 7f b7 5e b9 5a bb 7c bd b7 bf f9 c2 39 c4 6d c6 8a c8 99 ca a4 cc af ce be d0 d1 d2 e7 d5 08 d7 3d d9 8d db f4 de 5a e0 b5 e3 0b e5 61 e7 ba ea 08 ec 27 ee 00 ef 9d f1 1e f2 98 f4 1c f5 b6 f7 6d f9 35 fa fc fc b6 fe 5f ff ff 00 00 00 24 00 4b 00 71 00 96 00 bc 00 e2 01 08 01 2e 01 54 01 7a 01 a2 01 c9 01 f1 02 19 02 42 02 6b 02 95 02 c0 02 eb 03 16 03 43 03 70 03 9d 03 cc 03 fb 04 2b 04 5c 04 8e 04 c1 04 f5 05 2a 05 61 05 98 05 d1 06 0b 06 47 06 85 06 c4 07 06 07 4a 07 8f 07 d8 08 24 08 73 08 c5 09 1c 09 77 09 d6 0a 39 0a a0 0b 0a 0b 77 0b e7 0c 58 0c cd 0d 43 0d bc 0e 38 0e b6 0f 36 0f b9 10 3f 10 c6 11 4f 11 d9 12 65 12 f2 13 82 14 14 14 a8 15 3f 15 d9 16 75 17 14 17 b6 18 5a 19 02 19 ac 1a 59 1b 09 1b bc 1c 73 1d 2c 1d e8 1e a7 1f 69 20 2e 20 f6 21 c1 22 8f 23 5f 24 33 25 0a 25 e4 26 c2 27 a4 28 89 29 73 2a 60 2b 51 2c 45 2d 3c 2e 37 2f 35 30 36 31 3a 32 42 33 4d 34 5b 35 6e 36 86 37 a6 38 cf 39 fe 3b 34 3c 6f 3d ae 3e f2 40 39 41 84 42 d3 44 27 45 7f 46 db 48 3b 49 9d 4a fd 4c 50 4d 93 4e ca 4f fc 51 2e 52 64 53 9e 54 da 56 1a 57 5c 58 a1 59 ea 5b 35 5c 83 5d d3 5f 25 60 73 61 bc 62 fe 64 3d 65 7d 66 c1 68 09 69 56 6a a5 6b f7 6d 4c 6e a3 6f fc 71 59 72 b8 74 19 75 7c 76 da 78 30 79 7b 7a bd 7b fa 7d 3a 7e 81 7f ce 81 22 82 79 83 d3 85 30 86 8e 87 ee 89 4e 8a aa 8b fb 8d 40 8e 7c 8f b5 90 f5 92 44 93 a2 95 09 96 72 97 d8 99 3e 9a a3 9c 08 9d 6f 9e d6 a0 3d a1 a6 a3 14 a4 89 a6 06 a7 8e a9 1e aa b4 ac 4d ad e3 af 78 b1 0b b2 9f b4 34 b5 ca b7 60 b8 f5 ba 88 bc 1c bd b5 bf 57 c1 02 c2 b5 c4 69 c6 1c c7 ce c9 80 cb 34 cc ea ce a3 d0 5b d2 11 d3 bf d5 63 d7 00 d8 9b da 39 db dd dd 87 df 32 e0 df e2 8c e4 3b e5 ec e7 9e e9 4e ea f5 ec 88 ed f9 ef 49 f0 85 f1 b1 f2 ce f3 e8 f4 ff f6 18 f7 33 f8 54 f9 7c fa aa fb ea fd 38 fe 95 ff ff 00 00 00 29 00 54 00 7f 00 a9 00 d3 00 fe 01 29 01 54 01 80 01 ac 01 d8 02 06 02 34 02 62 02 91 02 c1 02 f2 03 23 03 56 03 89 03 bd 03 f3 04 29 04 60 04 99 04 d3 05 0f 05 4c 05 8b 05 cb 06 0d 06 52 06 99 06 e2 07 2d 07 7d 07 cf 08 26 08 81 08 e1 09 47 09 b2 0a 24 0a 9b 0b 16 0b 95 0c 16 0c 9a 0d 1f 0d a6 0e 30 0e bc 0f 4c 0f df 10 75 11 0f 11 ac 12 4d 12 f1 13 99 14 44 14 f2 15 a3 16 56 17 0b 17 c1 18 7a 19 36 19 f6 1a b9 1b 7f 1c 49 1d 17 1d e8 1e bd 1f 95 20 72 21 51 22 34 23 1a 24 04 24 f2 25 e3 26 d9 27 d2 28 cf 29 d0 2a d5 2b de 2c eb 2d fc 2f 12 30 2c 31 4a 32 6c 33 93 34 be 35 ed 37 20 38 57 39 92 3a d2 3c 15 3d 5d 3e aa 3f fb 41 50 42 aa 44 09 45 6d 46 d7 48 4a 49 c6 4b 4c 4c d8 4e 69 50 00 51 9b 53 3c 54 e2 56 8e 58 3f 59 f5 5b b1 5d 72 5f 36 60 f2 62 9b 64 2b 65 ad 67 2a 68 a6 6a 26 6b a9 6d 2f 6e b9 70 47 71 d8 73 6d 75 06 76 a2 78 41 79 df 7b 78 7d 06 7e 8e 80 14 81 99 83 22 84 ad 86 3b 87 cd 89 63 8b 01 8c ab 8e 5c 90 06 91 9b 93 1e 94 95 96 07 97 77 98 e7 9a 5a 9b d3 9d 58 9e f4 a0 a9 a2 65 a4 07 a5 8a a6 f6 a8 58 a9 b5 ab 14 ac 74 ad d6 af 39 b0 9e b2 05 b3 6e b4 d9 b6 47 b7 b9 b9 30 ba aa bc 24 bd 9b bf 0e c0 7d c1 ea c3 57 c4 c4 c6 32 c7 a1 c9 12 ca 84 cb f7 cd 6c ce e4 d0 5d d1 d9 d3 57 d4 d7 d6 54 d7 c9 d9 32 da 92 db eb dd 3e de 8e df dd e1 2d e2 7e e3 d0 e5 23 e6 78 e7 cd e9 23 ea 76 eb c0 ec fe ee 31 ef 4a f0 59 f1 59 f2 4e f3 3c f4 23 f5 07 f5 e2 f6 ba f7 80 f8 3d f8 f0 f9 81 fa 12 fa a0 fb 09 fb 71 fb d9 fc 42 fc 99 fc e8 fd 37 fd 85 fd d4 fe 23 fe 69 fe ad fe f0 ff 34 ff 78 ff bb ff ff",
+    "NativeDisplayInfo": "6e 64 69 6e 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 36 00 00 a7 40 00 00 55 80 00 00 4c c0 00 00 9e c0 00 00 25 80 00 00 0c c0 00 00 50 00 00 00 54 40 00 02 33 33 00 02 33 33 00 02 33 33 00 00 00 00 00 00",
-    "ProfileDateTime": "2020:03:26 20:12:07",
+    "ProfileDateTime": "2020:03:24 17:48:54",
-    "RedMatrixColumn": "0.41594 0.21532 0.00688",
+    "RedMatrixColumn": "0.44434 0.22476 0.00548",
-    "VideoCardGamma": "76 63 67 74 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 01 00 00 02 00 00 00 03 00 0d 00 20 00 3c 00 62 00 93 00 ce 01 12 01 58 01 a8 02 02 02 6d 02 e3 03 65 03 f2 04 8b 05 30 05 e0 06 9d 07 6a 08 44 09 26 0a 0e 0b 02 0c 03 0d 11 0e 2b 0f 49 10 72 11 a1 12 dd 14 1e 15 62 16 b2 18 04 19 60 1a c0 1c 1f 1d 89 1e f1 20 5d 21 cb 23 3a 24 a5 26 14 27 80 28 e7 2a 4e 2b af 2d 0e 2e 63 2f b3 30 fb 32 3b 33 73 34 9f 35 c4 36 e1 37 f9 39 0c 3a 1a 3b 2a 3c 38 3d 44 3e 4e 3f 5a 40 68 41 76 42 86 43 96 44 a8 45 ba 46 ca 47 da 48 e8 49 f7 4b 04 4c 10 4d 1c 4e 27 4f 31 50 3a 51 42 52 49 53 4e 54 52 55 55 56 57 57 58 58 59 59 5a 5a 5a 5b 5a 5c 5a 5d 5a 5e 58 5f 56 60 52 61 4d 62 46 63 3e 64 35 65 2a 66 1f 67 13 68 07 68 fb 69 ee 6a e1 6b d4 6c c7 6d b9 6e ab 6f 9d 70 8d 71 79 72 61 73 41 74 19 74 ee 75 c1 76 97 77 6f 78 4a 79 23 79 fd 7a d7 7b af 7c 88 7d 60 7e 37 7f 0e 7f e5 80 bb 81 92 82 68 83 3d 84 13 84 e8 85 be 86 93 87 68 88 3c 89 16 89 fd 8b 04 8c 3e 8d ad 8f 38 90 b2 91 fd 93 1f 94 2b 95 2e 96 30 97 31 98 33 99 34 9a 35 9b 35 9c 36 9d 3a 9e 46 9f 65 a0 98 a1 d8 a3 15 a4 41 a5 5d a6 6e a7 7a a8 86 a9 91 aa 9b ab a5 ac af ad b9 ae c3 af d2 b0 ed b2 21 b3 70 b4 d0 b6 29 b7 6c b8 98 b9 b6 ba cf bb e7 bc fe be 16 bf 31 c0 56 c1 92 c2 e8 c4 48 c5 9b c6 cd c7 e1 c8 f0 ca 06 cb 25 cc 47 cd 64 ce 73 cf 6c d0 55 d1 37 d2 1e d3 0a d3 f9 d4 e3 d5 cd d6 bf d7 ba d8 bc d9 bf da c1 db be dc af dd 91 de 6c df 42 e0 19 e0 f2 e1 d0 e2 b9 e3 a8 e4 9b e5 90 e6 85 e7 79 e8 6d e9 60 ea 4d eb 33 ec 12 ec eb ed c6 ee a4 ef 86 f0 6a f1 4e f2 34 f3 22 f4 29 f5 5d f6 be f8 30 f9 94 fa df fc 19 fd 58 fe a4 ff ff 00 00 00 02 00 0b 00 1b 00 32 00 52 00 7a 00 ac 00 e6 01 27 01 6f 01 c0 02 1b 02 82 02 f2 03 70 03 f8 04 88 05 21 05 c5 06 74 07 2e 07 f3 08 c2 09 9d 0a 7d 0b 64 0c 58 0d 53 0e 58 0f 62 10 75 11 8b 12 a8 13 d0 14 f8 16 27 17 5d 18 93 19 cf 1b 0d 1c 4c 1d 8c 1e ce 20 0d 21 51 22 91 23 d0 25 0b 26 45 27 76 28 a6 29 d1 2a f4 2c 10 2d 28 2e 34 2f 39 30 39 31 33 32 29 33 1e 34 10 35 01 35 f4 36 e5 37 d7 38 c8 39 b9 3a a9 3b 9a 3c 8b 3d 7b 3e 6a 3f 5b 40 4e 41 42 42 37 43 2e 44 24 45 1a 46 10 47 06 47 fb 48 f0 49 e5 4a d8 4b cc 4c be 4d b0 4e a2 4f 93 50 84 51 73 52 61 53 50 54 3e 55 2b 56 18 57 05 57 f1 58 dc 59 c8 5a b3 5b 9f 5c 89 5d 73 5e 5d 5f 45 60 2c 61 13 61 f8 62 dd 63 c1 64 a4 65 88 66 6b 67 4d 68 2f 69 11 69 f3 6a d5 6b b6 6c 98 6d 79 6e 58 6f 36 70 12 70 e9 71 bf 72 93 73 64 74 35 75 05 75 d6 76 a5 77 75 78 45 79 14 79 e3 7a b2 7b 80 7c 4e 7d 1c 7d ea 7e ba 7f 8d 80 6a 81 52 82 44 83 3d 84 3a 85 36 86 30 87 2b 88 25 89 1f 8a 19 8b 12 8c 0b 8d 04 8d fd 8e f6 8f f1 90 f2 91 f9 93 07 94 18 95 28 96 37 97 44 98 50 99 5b 9a 67 9b 72 9c 7d 9d 87 9e 92 9f 9c a0 a7 a1 b8 a2 d2 a3 f9 a5 29 a6 5c a7 8b a8 b5 a9 da aa fe ac 21 ad 45 ae 68 af 8d b0 b7 b1 ee b3 35 b4 85 b5 d1 b7 0d b8 3d b9 69 ba 99 bb cb bc ff be 35 bf 6c c0 a4 c1 dc c3 11 c4 40 c5 69 c6 8b c7 aa c8 c8 c9 e9 cb 0d cc 33 cd 5a ce 82 cf ac d0 d7 d2 06 d3 34 d4 5f d5 84 d6 a4 d7 c4 d8 e6 da 0a db 2f dc 54 dd 79 de 9e df c7 e0 f7 e2 31 e3 72 e4 b3 e5 f2 e7 2c e8 67 e9 a3 ea df ec 1b ed 58 ee 9c ef f0 f1 76 f3 2d f5 12 f7 0a f9 02 fa eb fc bb fe 69 ff ff 00 00 00 02 00 0a 00 17 00 2c 00 48 00 6b 00 97 00 ca 01 06 01 47 01 91 01 e3 02 3d 02 a1 03 0d 03 85 04 07 04 92 05 26 05 c0 06 64 07 12 07 c9 08 88 09 4e 0a 1f 0a f9 0b d4 0c b8 0d a5 0e 99 0f 92 10 8f 11 92 12 9a 13 a5 14 b6 15 c8 16 de 17 f9 19 12 1a 2d 1b 46 1c 61 1d 7c 1e 97 1f ae 20 c2 21 d4 22 e5 23 ed 24 f2 25 f0 26 e8 27 d8 28 c2 29 a5 2a 83 2b 5a 2c 2f 2d 01 2d d2 2e a4 2f 77 30 4a 31 20 31 f7 32 ce 33 a6 34 7e 35 55 36 2c 37 02 37 d8 38 ad 39 82 3a 56 3b 2a 3b fd 3c d0 3d a3 3e 77 3f 4a 40 1f 40 f5 41 cc 42 a5 43 7e 44 56 45 2e 46 05 46 dc 47 b4 48 8a 49 60 4a 36 4b 0b 4b e0 4c b5 4d 89 4e 5d 4f 31 50 05 50 d9 51 ac 52 80 53 53 54 25 54 f6 55 c8 56 9a 57 6b 58 3b 59 0b 59 db 5a ab 5b 7a 5c 48 5d 16 5d e4 5e b1 5f 7f 60 4b 61 17 61 e3 62 ae 63 7a 64 46 65 11 65 db 66 a6 67 71 68 3b 69 04 69 ce 6a 97 6b 60 6c 29 6c f1 6d b8 6e 80 6f 46 70 09 70 cc 71 8c 72 4a 73 08 73 c5 74 82 75 3e 75 fb 76 b7 77 73 78 2e 78 e9 79 a4 7a 5f 7b 1a 7b d4 7c 8e 7d 48 7e 02 7e be 7f 7e 80 48 81 1d 81 fb 82 e0 83 c8 84 b1 85 9b 86 84 87 6d 88 56 89 3e 8a 26 8b 0d 8b f5 8c dc 8d c3 8e aa 8f 94 90 81 91 77 92 72 93 70 94 71 95 71 96 71 97 71 98 70 99 6e 9a 69 9b 60 9c 53 9d 4a 9e 4c 9f 5d a0 79 a1 9d a2 c5 a3 ee a5 15 a6 37 a7 4c a8 52 a9 51 aa 5b ab 7b ac b4 ad fb af 47 b0 93 b1 df b3 2b b4 76 b5 c1 b7 0b b8 53 b9 98 ba db bc 21 bd 6c be bd c0 13 c1 6a c2 c3 c4 1b c5 74 c6 ce c8 26 c9 7d ca d4 cc 2a cd 82 ce e3 d0 56 d1 d6 d3 63 d4 f5 d6 88 d8 1a d9 ad db 40 dc d6 de 80 e0 4d e2 53 e4 90 e6 f7 e9 94 ec c5 f1 54 f7 d9 ff ff"
+    "VideoCardGamma": "76 63 67 74 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00"

However, a color profile resulting from a calibration in “Expert Mode” also results in large ndin and vcgt tables, but does not result in a glowing cursor.

Files from the calibrated profile are as follows:

• Color LCD Calibrated.icc - 10640 bytes
• Color LCD Calibrated.json

Non-conclusion

I’m…stumped.

I’ve submitted item FB7642867 to Apple’s Feedback Assistant and posted a topic on the f.lux forums to see if others have better luck tracking this down.