Apple admits OS X security flaw
p2pnet.net News:- One of the reasons Apple MAC enthusiasts routinely trot to explain why Apples are better than the less expensive but more vulnerable PCs is:
MACs aren’t supposed to have security holes.
However, that’s now changed.
Secunia updated a security warning for for Safari from "highly" to "extremely" critical and now, in manufacturer avoid-speak of the kind companies use when they know there’s a problem but don’t really want to admit it, Apple has acknowledged a "theoretical vulnerability" in OS X.
In a statement, Apple says it’s "posted a Mac OS X update to address a theoretical vulnerability in the Help Viewer application that could have been exposed when browsing the web. The update is available automatically to all users through Apple’s free Software Update service or by going to http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/."
It gives no further information.
Secunia, however, says two vulnerabilities were reported in Mac OS X, allowing malicious web sites to compromise a vulnerable system.
- The problem is that the "help" URI handler allows execution of arbitrary local scripts (.scpt) via the classic directory traversal character sequence using ‘help:runscript’.
- It is reportedly also possible to silently place arbitrary files in a known location, including script files, on a user’s system using the ‘disk’ URI handler."
Secunia says there’s no efficient solution.
"While no operating system can be completely immune from all security issues, Mac OS X’s UNIX-based architecture has so far turned out to be much better than most," Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vp of worldwide product marketing.
To maintain "maximum system security and stability Apple always advises that all Mac OS X users keep their system current by installing this and all Mac OS X software updates," says its statement.
Does that remind you of anyone?
May 22nd, 2004 at 5:39 am
yes yes but have you tried using both XP and OSX side by side? The XP environment is far far more prone to problems and requires therefore far more weekly care and cleaning than OSX. That is especially true if the XP computer is used by adolescents. OSX still works better, is more stable and has very easy access to a wide range of properly integrated useful stuff. Apple will keep on top of the security issues.
May 22nd, 2004 at 1:28 pm
That would probably be because there are many, many more win boxes out there than apple boxes. Sure, I still run CP/M for a few things, but no one attacks that either.
May 22nd, 2004 at 2:56 pm
try getting a virus to exponentially attack on the mac os X platform…
that’s where the Mac OS X security lies.
it’s not that there are so few macs out there.. there are still around 30 million – 40 million of them…
the thing is that viruses only work if they can be reproduced and sent back out to, say, all the contacts from you outlook address book, for example.
this would NEVER happen on a mac.
Mac OS X to my knowledge doesn’t claim to come with built-in virus software…so if you are infected w a virus… it’s not the OS.
it’s just that.. on a mac.. that would never happen, because a virus would have to be written for the mac.. but since the virus can’t reproduce and grow exponentially (Mac OS X anal about installing programs) there would be no point to write one
May 23rd, 2004 at 6:43 am
Compared to the number of wintel machines out there, 30-40 million is a tiny number. No one is going to attack something that is a minority. Well, at least the intelligent people aren’t going to do it. C’mon, it’s easier to spread panic by attacking the majority.
Outlook is a know bad apple, yet corporations still use it. That’s thier own fault.
I know of no computer that comes with built-in “virus” software. That statement makes no sense.
Windows isn’t a virus, it’s a bug.