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A MacNN reader points to yet to protect Mac OS X until an official fix is available from Apple.
Comments
Thanks for this information.
why isn't this front page news on every mac site? I guess they don't want it to get too much publicity before a fix is in place?
While these things need to be fixed for sure, it seems to me things were overblown this week. It's not a virus, not a worm, isn't self propogating. How many people do you know that were impacted by this? I'd say likely none of you do. So while it needs to be fixed, let's keep some perspective here.
I doubt you are this kind to Microsoft.
This is a genuine and very serious security flaw.
This flaw is the most serious possible: what this means is that Apple is using the same broken design Microsoft implemented in 1996 or so, when they integrated the "browser' and the "desktop". I knew Apple had been moving towards a more integrated environment, and had expressed my concerns to Apple and online, but I didn't know when the other shoe was going to drop and what the symptom would be... I just knew it was coming.
Well, here it is. The real fix is to completely separate the 'helper' type->handler resolution into two separate sections: one for trusted references generated by local applications that know they are local and that already have local access; and one for untrusted references embedded in documents. ANY document, whether local or remote, should not be able to cause the launch of any helper unless that helper is known to be prepared to deal with untrusted data.
Not "unless it's not known to have a flaw", but unless it is known to be designed to expect untrusted data.
If Microsoft had done that almost a decade ago there would have been about 90% fewer virus and worm incidents in the Windows world. If Apple doesn't do it, they will soon lose the cachet of being "virus free by design" that they have now.
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Joined: May 2004
Only works for 10.2...
Only works for 10.2.8 Jaguar, and in the security patch for this version of os x it's already patched...
The update for 10.2.8 says:
"Security Update 2004-05-24 delivers a number of security enhancements and is recommended for all Macintosh users. This update includes the following components:
HelpViewer
Terminal"