Apple Computer has shipped a monster security update to correct a total of 22 vulnerabilities in its Mac OS X operating system. The Cupertino, Calif, company's patch batch includes a fix for a critical Wi-Fi flaw affecting eMac, iBook, iMac, PowerBook G3, PowerBook G4 and Power Mac G4 systems.
The Wi-Fi flaw, first exposed at the beginning of the Month of Kernel Bugs project, was discovered and reported by Metasploit's HD Moore. Apple confirmed that the issue is a heap buffer overflow that exists in the AirPort wireless driver's handling of probe response frames.
"An attacker in local proximity may be able to trigger the overflow by sending maliciously crafted information elements in probe responses," the company said in its advisory. The flaw does not affect systems with the AirPort Extreme card.
View: The full story
News source: eWeek
The Wi-Fi flaw, first exposed at the beginning of the Month of Kernel Bugs project, was discovered and reported by Metasploit's HD Moore. Apple confirmed that the issue is a heap buffer overflow that exists in the AirPort wireless driver's handling of probe response frames.
"An attacker in local proximity may be able to trigger the overflow by sending maliciously crafted information elements in probe responses," the company said in its advisory. The flaw does not affect systems with the AirPort Extreme card.
View: The full story News source: eWeek
Its bad that they release the details of the issues before companies get to fix it.
Hacking is big money money this days so sad.
it is a perfect system, with absolutely no flaws, unlike that other OS...
it is a perfect system, with absolutely no flaws, unlike that other OS...
I didn't realise Linux had flaws ? =-P
I do hope you're joking.
it is a perfect system, with absolutely no flaws, unlike that other OS...
Apple has identified potential risks in it's code and proceeded to patch these holes so that hackers, coders, or any other busy body cannot create a programme or script to take advantage of it! I think you should try OSX for a while and you will soon see it does have it's issues.
HAHA. Maybe Mr. Nibbles? I don't know. Let's just pray that does not happen. :-P
It will be safer than Windows OS always. This is just true and you can't change that.
It will be safer than Mac OS always. This is just true and you can't change that. "
I can recall many a Mac fanboy pointing out the sheer number of patches to Windows as an obvious sign that Windows is full of bugs, and as such cannot possibly hold a candle to the Holy Glory that is Apple and their MacOS. Now that Apple is actually being more proactive with patching their OS, the tables are turned. Whereas Windows users say that the number of patches prooves MacOS is flawed, Mac users state that the number of patches prooves that Apple is ensuring the security of their product. How ironic!
Also, try not to confuse beliefs with truths. You can't state that MacOS is more secure than Windows unless you either swap MacOS and Windows marketshares at this moment and watch what happens over the next few years, or somehow run a complete code review on both operating systems. And then, assuming the review is perfect (it can't possibly be) you can make a valid comparison. Until then, these arguments will be nothing more than meaningless debate between religious fanbois on either side.
Last edited by Divide Overflow on 30 Nov 2006 - 14:20
Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!
Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.