Apple patched 58 vulnerabilities in its Mac operating systems Monday, the most since May 2009, including several in the QuickTime media player that it had fixed separately in early September.
Apple apparently also retired Mac OS X 10.4, aka Tiger, from security support; none of the patches affect that operating system, which debuted in April 2005. Apple traditionally stops providing security updates for its oldest still-supported OS several months after the release of a new edition.
[ Discover the 7 best features of Mac OS X Snow Leopard and get the details on all the new Mac OS X features in InfoWorld's "What's new in Mac OS X Snow Leopard" slideshows. Plus, find out what's wrong with Snow Leopard. | Learn how to secure your systems with Roger Grimes' Security Adviser blog and Security Central newsletter, both from InfoWorld. ]
Today's security update was the sixth from Apple this year, and the second that included patches for Snow Leopard , launched in late August.
"Seems a little large, but really, it's par for the course for Apple," said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Network Security, referring to the number of individual bugs quashed in today's 2009-006 update. In May, Apple patched a record 67 vulnerabilities ; it addressed 55 in February, 33 in September, and 19 in two separate August updates.
"Thank goodness Apple didn't release it tomorrow," Storms said. Microsoft, which unlike Apple sets a regular schedule for its security updates, is slated to deliver six updates Tuesday that will patch 15 vulnerabilities.
More than half of the vulnerabilities patched today, 32 out of the 58, were accompanied by the phrase "may lead to arbitrary code execution," which is Apple's way of saying that a flaw was critical and could be used by attackers to hijack a Mac. Apple does not assign ratings or severity scores to the bugs it patches, unlike other major software makers, such as Microsoft and Oracle.
Apple plugged holes in 37 different components of Mac OS X, ranging from AFP Client and the open-source Apache Web server software to CoreGraphics, the Help Viewer and the Spotlight desktop search engine.
Storms said several were worth particular attention, including the four that patched critical vulnerabilities in the version of QuickTime originally packaged with Mac OS X 10.6, aka Snow Leopard .
"Those were the vulnerabilities Apple patched in QuickTime 7.6.4," said Storms, noting that Apple issued a separate QuickTime update for Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5, Tiger and Leopard, respectively, on Sept. 9, just 12 days after debuting Snow Leopard.
Apple delivered Snow Leopard's first security update on Sept. 10 to fix nine flaws in Adobe's Flash Player that it had plugged in late July, but was unable to squeeze into Snow Leopard before its launch.
This whitepaper explains the terminology and concepts behind Data Replication technologies and establishes some sizing rules through worked examples. Learn the new paradigm in disaster tolerance—protect data anywhere.
Download now »
Server virtualization is a popular option for dealing with mounting datacenter costs. Another equally promising approach is the use of an Application Delivery Controller. Citrix NetScaler provides a low-cost way for organizations to reduce their server count and accrue cost savings from a reduction in space, cooling, power and personnel.
Download now »
The emergence of WLANs has created a new breed of security threats to enterprise networks.
Included in HP ProCurve WLAN solutions is security technology that alleviates threats from WLANs through:
* Monitoring wireless activity inside and out of the enterprise
* Classifying WLAN transmissions into harmful and harmless
* Preventing transmissions that pose a security threat to the enterprise network
* Locating participating devices for physical remediation
Effectively address data protection challenges, implementing solutions that help store and protect business–critical data while cutting costs and improving efficiency and reliability.
Download now »
Sign up to receive InfoWorld Resource Alerts
This white paper provides guidance on how to develop a strategic approach to managing and monitoring logs, a key function required for compliance with many regulatory mandates and a critical defense against security threats.
Download now! »
Learn about the processes and technologies that support security information management (SIM) operations, as well as the business case for SIM. The series examines different options for implementing SIM and gives you evaluation criteria for selecting the best option for your organization.
Download now! »
Learn the strategies, actions, and capabilities that Best-in-Class organizations employ and technologies they choose to obtain superior performance against various security performance metrics. This report provides guidelines for identifying which security solutions to consume as a MSS and defines best practices for choosing and managing MSSPs.
Download now! »
11 Recommendations
