“Extremely critical” Mac OS X Vulnerability

February 21st, 2006

Heise reported on a security hole in Apple’s Safari browser and explains how it works. Secunia rates this vulnerability as "extremely critical" (there is no higher rating). The user doesn’t need to do anything at all but visit a malicious website to get infected. The owners of that website can do whatever they want on the system - delete files, install programs, etc.

There is a demo of the vulnerability at Secunia.

Secunia recommends users "deactivate the option "Open ’safe’ files after downloading" in the "General" section of Safari’s preferences" or to use an alternative browser such as Camino or Firefox.

Or use a better operating system