Severe vulnerability hits Mac OSX
Exploit published for gaping DMG hole.
A serious vulnerability found in the DMG handling on fully up-to-date installations of Apple's OSX is
threatening to upset the platform's reputation for security.
The bug, for which an example exploit is available from the Month of Kernel Bugs site where it was first
unveiled, uses a flaw in the handling of corrupted DMG disk image files by the AppleDiskImageController. Mac
users browsing to a site carrying a suitably crafted file could find it automatically loading, possibly causing
denial of service or even granting remote users kernel-mode system access.
The flaw has not been patched by Apple, but a simple workaround is available, involving the disabling of an
option to automatically load 'safe' files. Secunia has labelled the problem 'highly critical'; its alert is
here, while the original release, with examples, is
here.
Another similar flaw found by the same researcher, this time involving corrupted UDTO HFS+ image structures and with
less critical consequences, is described here and
here.
Elsewhere in the Mac security arena, F-Secure has reported a 'feature' in OSX which allows a
proof-of-concept piece of adware to silently hook itself to every application, launching a browser pointed to the
ad site each time one is opened. Their blog entry can be found
here.
23 November 2006
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