major_clanger: Clangers (Royal Mail stamp) (41)
Simon Bradshaw ([personal profile] major_clanger) wrote2004-05-20 10:06 pm

Apple, We Have A Problem

If you are running Mac OS X, you really need to be aware of this extremely serious security vulnerability. This site also gives details of a fix, as well as a link that gives a harmless but very scary demo of how this issue can be exploited (watch an arbitrary command run in your terminal window! Eerk!)

MC, not as smug as usual about Windows right now

[identity profile] robertprior.livejournal.com 2004-05-21 07:21 am (UTC)(link)
There's also a note there from someone who says it's a hoax. And quite a few notes from people who have had trouble after trying the fixes suggested...

[identity profile] major-clanger.livejournal.com 2004-05-21 10:00 am (UTC)(link)
There are also convincing rebuttals.

Plenty of people have verified that this vulnerability exists and works (including me).

As has been pointed out, the word of an anonymous 'tech support' person who
(a) doesn't know what a blog is,
(b) claims that OS X (or any OS) is 'bug free', and
(c) works for the manufacturer of the OS in question
should be taken with a pinch of salt to put it mildly.

More information at Wired.

MC

[identity profile] major-clanger.livejournal.com 2004-05-21 04:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Furthermore, Apple has now released an urgent security patch for this issue, so I think it's safe to say that it's real.