“A blogger has identified an apparent flaw in the Apple’s Mac OS X graphics display engine, ImageIO, that will crash the company’s Safari Web browser and other system applications, including the Finder. The flaw, posted by DrunkenBlog, crashes anything using the Mac OS X ImageIO API including Finder, Preview, and applications based on Webkit and WebCore — Apple JavaScript/HTML display engine for Safari and other applications,” MacNN reports.
Full article with more info and link to test the flaw here.
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That explains why my Safari has been going down lately. 6 times the other day, after waking from sleep.
no problems of that nature here – i wonder what triggers this behavior? at any rate, i’m sure apple will have a fix for it soon. they’re usually pretty good about that.
Yeah, I’ve noticed Safari crashing more than usual lately. Geez, I hope what he says about Apple employees isn’t true i.e., they’re not that confident about security.
Sheesh, remember OS 9 when a web page would crash the entire system? Good times…
Safari is nice to use – but it is by the far the most unstable browser I’ve used.
wandering joe: No it doesn’t…. Unless you’ve open that page everytime your login or wake it up from sleep
Safari has been crashing on me for a while now and that never happened before until 3 months ago so Ive been using Firefox and Camino since Safari won’t stay stable for me right now.
I hope this was reported to Apple if in fact it is a bug and not just posted on a blog then carried by MacNN then carried by MDN, etc., etc.
Seems everyone is really hungry for their 15 minutes of fame® not very altruistic.
Shame.
I’m force to use Firefox now, eventhough I prefers Safari.
I’ve trashed the peferences files, but it still hang, or seeing the “Ball of death”, same as the calculator and Onyx.
Well, nobody is perfect eventhough is UNIX base. But at least I don’t have to restart the whole machine…..
ANyone has any solutions or tips. Please……….
Safari has been more unstable just recently. Camino is a Great browser (10x better than FireFox for Mac), but it doesn’t offer any of the JavaScript debugging features that can easily be enabled in Safari.
Huh? Wha? A piece of software has a flaw? Christ! Call the authorities! Some one found a way to crash a PROGRAM! OS X can’t crash! NOOOOO. Apple software is invincible!
tip: Try letting your cron jobs run. Not putting your computer to sleep. UNIX likes to run all the time. Or run the cron jobs yourself.
Firefox users can use Camino, which has the Gecko engine goodness inside, but an OS X-native shell.
Oh well. I’m sure this’ll get patched soon enough. Even Apple can make mistakes.
>That explains why my Safari has been going down lately. 6 times the other day, after waking from sleep.>
Ask Elton.
tHE dUDE: This has nothing to do with cron jobs etc. read the linked articles.
The only thing that crashes Safari for me is when I try to view Windows Media (Mafia) on a website, and I have flip4mac installed. Although I suspect that has more to do with MS than Apple, because it happens to me in Firefox too.
Anyone else have that problem?
but apart from that, solid as a rock.
PMG4QS800
PB17″1.33
The only time I ever had a problem with Safari crashing on me was when I first got my quad. Nothing, not even erasing all traces of Safari from my system, and replacing them with versions from a computer running a stable Safari, solved it.
Then, I did a clean install of Tiger form the included disc, and it has not had a simgle issue since.. and that was 3 months ago now.
Safari has been 100% reliable for me otherwise. I have used it since the day it was announced, and currently run it on at least 4 different Macs I might be on on the course of a day.
The blogger sound slike an arrogant jackass to me. As far as I know, OS X does run on the same internet that Windows boxes do, without any of the security problems Windows users have to deal with daily.
Yes, Safari did crash when I clicked the link. Big deal! So I clicked on Safari and restarted it. My system kept running. I lost what? Five seconds? Apple does not comment on security flaws until they are fixed so that hackers aren’t encouraged and tipped off to exploit those flaws. They’ll fix it soon. No worries.
Loooong wait for ShortHorn
Use MacJanitor. Lots simpler
i’ve come across this kinda crash, doubt it’s the same as whats talked about here but go to amazon and make sure your not logged in, type in your email address then tab twice, crashes every time for me
The dude that authors Drunken Blog is a developer who has education, knowledge, experience and contacts throughout the developer community– otherwise his credentials are above board. He’s no troll. He is a Mac user, but is no fanboy. He sees the Macintosh for what it is– the best tool available today, but not perfect.
The truth is that Apple, in it’s breakneck development pace to mature the OS and it’s limited beta testers, has some chinks in it’s OS and associated tools. Some parts of X-Code and subsystems of the OS are still considerably less than they should be. The same is true of security, and make no mistake– this instability could be an avenue for a security exploit.
Apple’s closed nature has hurt it in some ways. The very limited number of beta testers has led to some major screw-ups with certain OS updates and security updates. If Apple were a little more open and ran a larger Beta testing pool, we would all be better served with more stable and secure software.
X-Code, while good for most developers, is still not all it should be. A recent blog over at Adobe tells us that large and complex code bases like Photoshop will not run in the X-Code developer environment. Apple blindsided MetroWerks and Code Warrior Developers with the Intel switch and forced many Apple Developers from Code Warrior into an X-Code Developer Environment that is not all it should be. The long wait for Adobe Photoshop is more Apple’s than Adobe’s fault. A little transparency by Apple with it’s commercial developers would benefit all of us.
The bug is an example of some of the holes that exist in OS X that could have been easily quashed if Apple would be a little more open in it’s Beta testing. One thing is for sure– where there is one there are bound to be more. As the Mac platform continues to grow it is going to come under a level of scrutiny way beyond what it has ever faced before and more problems like this will surface. Some of these could be holes that could be exploited. Should that happen the results will not be pretty as most Mac users are living in a Fool’s Paradise regarding security.
A respected Mac expert has shown you a serious bug that could have been caught in a proper beta test program. He doesn’t sell services or software that would benefit from pointing this out. You would be well advised to listen. There are other bugs– some known and others are to be found. Spare us all of the fanboy hype. Mac OS X is great, but far from perfect. Consider yourselves warned.
Wow – all you people having problems with Apple software and you did not bring it up until now.
Anybody have any other problems? – maybe the one´s I have are not unique and are widespread throughout the OSX world.
Drunken Blogger Shoots Straight, even if what you say about his qualifications is true, he’s still an shithead for posting the image inline rather than linking to it with a prominent warning. He’s cast himself as part of the problem, not the solution.
ALL you people with problems??? Half a handful, so what? I can’t even remember when I had a Safari crash last..at least a year ago I’d imagine. It is the most reliable browser I have ever used. I do use safariblock and usercontent.css (sorry MDN!). That may help to block troublesome rubbish that people insist on putting into adverts.
One other thing, I restart Safari every three days to make it hand memory back which it starts to hog. The system normally gets restarted once every two weeks. I don’t think that is in any way comparable to Windows..!
So Macfanboy, I don’t suggest you get excited that you have stumbled in secret life of OSX, so back to your leech infested swamp called Windows…
I haven’t had many issues with Safari. There are times that it shut’s down, but usually when I’m tasking it multiple open webpages and downloads.
My biggest complaint with OS X (particularly since switching to Tiger) is that Mail is incredibly slow at everything it does. It also tends to hang up frequently (under the “force quit” box I get “Mail not responding”). Apple has absolutely got to get mail brought up to speed.
Just my .02,
Mark
>>One other thing, I restart Safari every three days to make it hand memory back which it starts to hog.
Huh? And you still stay Safari is good? That’s called a memory leak. Not even IE has a memory leak. You really shouldn’t have to restart applications because they are hogging memory. Not good.
I haven’t had any problems with Safari crashing on any of my Macs (PM G5, Intel G5, iMac G4, iBook G4) on 10.4.5 or 10.4. No problems after waking from sleep either. Curious stuff.
I’d agree with Macaday to be honest, it’s the most stable browser I’ve ever had. No problems at all – and for the few websites who can’t be bothered to code for Safari, I use Firefox (also very good).
Also, if people notice any niggling problems, don’t keep quiet til some blogger points it out – click on the bug report button and send to Apple!
I haven’t used Safari for about 6 months now. I am liking, and using, SeaMonkey as my main browser. Next, is OmniWeb, then Camino. That’s my order of preference for now. Just can’t get to liking FireFox…
SeaMonkey doesn’t look so great, but the more I use it, the more I appreciate what it can do, and it is solid/stable and opens every page I have ever thrown its way.
MDN Magic Word: “pay” – as in, OmniWeb is worth “pay”ing for… it’s that good.
Macady: “One other thing, I restart Safari every three days to make it hand memory back which it starts to hog. “
LOL. Tip to Macaday – that´s not good. What a genius.
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It’s been hard trying to be a fanboy lately with all these exploits and flaws.
I recommended Mac’s with Mac OS X to a lot of friends, because it was such a great alternative to Windows. I even helped set them up and was proud they were happy.
Now all I hear is complaints and paranoia.
Thanks a lot Apple. 🙁
No crashes for me, though I rarely close Safari, and almost never switch off my iMac G5. I have Saft, AcidSearch and Webstractor which would surely cause me more crashes than other users. I did buy and install Saft because of the protection it gives me for the executable shell script exploit in Safari.
But then again reloading my last active tabs is just a god send when you don’t need to make a bookmark but do wish to view something when you have more time. The Saft bookmark enhancements are again something that Safari is poor at. After all this is pretty core functionality for a web browser.
I still recommend the Mac to all my work colleagues though they all ridicule me. I’m more than keen to remind them of MS-Vista’s recent changed release date. To keep customers waiting since 2003 for a new product shows just how dependent businesses have become on Windows. I’m keenly waiting for Leopard, but just what is it going to have?
I use Safari in 10.3.9. Once or twice a week I hit a web page that causes it to quit. It’s not a big deal. Apple will fix it.
Right now they’ve got much bigger problems to focus on, like getting a ProMac powered by Intel out the door. On its worst day Safari is a thousand times more stable than OS-9 which would lock up the whole machine and require a shutdown and cold reboot.
A much larger browser problem for Mac users is web sites that use Direct-X (which is MS-only technology).
My wife files insurance claim forms online and some of the companies use Direct-X in their web-forms. It’s getting so bad we may actually have to buy a PC for her to use because of pinhead site designers implementing this proprietary code. Bank of America figured out how to work around Direct-X so it’s not impossible.
Open standards are good. MS proprietary standards are a bummer for every computer user!
I hope this was reported to Apple if in fact it is a bug and not just posted on a blog
#4485821
1. MDN should have followed it with the (TM) Firefox not affected.
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2. Drunken Blogger Shoots Straight: We have very different definitions of “serious bug”. Of course it’s a good reflection on OS X when simply causing a Web browser to crash is a “serious bug”. But I can think of, oh, about 7,000 more “serious bugs” in Windows. Bugs that open your computer to every form of security attack known to man are “serious”. I would classify this as an “annoying bug”, but not “serious”.
Stuart:
The problem is flip4mac. I installed it and had nothing but problems. I uninstalled it and those problems went away. I’m still using a G4, so Microsoft’s Windows Media Player (free download) is a viable option.
I don’t know if the MS player works with Intel Macs, or how flip4mac works on Intel Macs.
Anyone out there care to share their experinece on .wmv files and Intel Macs?
Yeah Safari needs some work yet. I’ve switched to Firefox for the most part…
no problems with it…I clear history and empty the cache every day, open & quit as I need it, but I have noticed that some of my widgets crash sporadically on hiding them
anyone who helps the Mac OS stronger, better and safer is worthy of a pat on the back and at least 2 shots of his favorite ‘beverage’, no matter who he is
If there is ONE thing I’ve learned from reading the posts on this website, it’s that if a writer doesn’t have a strident, negative opinion about something Apple related, he feels weak and “fanboyish.”
How truly pathetic.
The greatest enemy of “the good” is “the perfect.”
The best stomach is NOT that which rejects ALL food.
Truly, anyone who expects to live in a Garden of Eden in today’s complex computer-world is going to be gravely disappointed. But . . . sitting on the highest horse possible sure helps to ease the pain, huh?
Have had only two small “crashes” of Safari, and after I reopen I have no problem, even when I go back to the page I was on when it crashed. Also have had two kernel panics on the Intel iMac, both when computer was on the login screen and on sleep mode overnight (so I’ve been shutting down each night as a precaution). No technology is perfect, but I’d rather deal with these than a Blue Screen of Death…
MW=head, as in, “Let’s head off all the FUD right here and now…”
Golum, I second that. This henpecking isn’t constructive and doesn’t help anyone. It’s not even interesting to read. Most Mac users are going to use Safari. Send a bug report, it will get fixed if enough of us point out the problem. Honestly, sometimes there seems to be more folks here that want to stir things up than there are Mac enthusiasts!
One more thing. I think posters yesterday, I won’t mention any names, who put links it their posts that where supposed to be an image but instead crashed your browser, are incredibly rude. And should be spanked.
“Also have had two kernel panics on the Intel iMac, both when computer was on the login screen and on sleep mode overnight (so I’ve been shutting down each night as a precaution). No technology is perfect, but I’d rather deal with these than a Blue Screen of Death…”
hmm…how exactly is a KP any “better” than a BSOD? Both require you to restart. It sounds like you have some issues with your new mac if you’ve had 2 KP’s since you purchased it and can’t even keep the thing in sleep mode overnight. To be perfectly honest, I havent encounter a single BSOD since installing Windows XP 3 years ago. Don’t spread FUD.
“I use Safari in 10.3.9. Once or twice a week I hit a web page that causes it to quit. It’s not a big deal. Apple will fix it. “
Are you kidding me? Crashing 1-2 times PER WEEK is NOT A BIG DEAL? What is wrong with you people? For god sakes, SPEAK UP. Let Apple know about these problems. This is not normal.
Before 2.0, Safari used to crash on me, but it’s been pretty solid for me since then. :shrug:
I routinely have Safari hit the maximum open files per process limit on my core duo mac mini. When it does this, the app just closes, regardless of what you were doing. And without warning, no crash dialog nothing. I really wish Apple made it easier to tweak this value.
“Drunken Blogger Shoots Straight” — …most Mac users are living in a Fool’s Paradise regarding security.
Uh huh, right, Fool’s Paradise, check, got it, anything else to add?
I’m really growing tired of people who throw out statements like this without justifying them in any way. Of course, every time a “justification” is posted, Mac users rebut it into dust, so people like DBSS above have learned not to bother and just repeat the same bulls#!+ over and over in the hope that it will become de facto truth. “Mac users do not worry about security; therefore Mac users are delusional.”
When the first SERIOUS threat emerges, then and only then can Mac users be accused of being in denial. Until then, they are perfectly justified in behaving as if there is nothing to worry about.
Safari hasn’t crashed for me yet. Like others have said Apple will put out a fix for it soon.
Does anyone know if it crashes Quicktime too? Closing out of fullscreen mode sometimes kills it on my machine. No Safari or Finder problems though
“…even Apple sometimes makes mistakes…”
Mealy-mouthed rationalizations. “I’m a Mac User – and it’s great no matter what!”.
Bubble-boy Looozerrrsss!
I recommended running cron jobs because he said he had problems after waking from sleep. If it’s sleeping it’s not doing maintenance. This was a recommendation to help Safari reliability not keep it from crashing due to a bug in the software.
I did read the linked articles. And I find them almost completely insignificant. Software has bugs. All software. What’s the big deal? Submit it to Apple.
Figure it out Ted Polaski.
I’ve had a few Safari crashes but nothing out of the ordinary and not often enough to be worried or PO’d about.
They’ll fix whatever the problem is light years faster than Microsloth does that’s for damn sure.
downloaded the picture to my desktop and it crashed finder nonstop.
moved it to the trash and the dock froze.
downloaded it again to a folder then opened the folder and Finder crashed.
Preview crashed when trying to open it.
that was fun
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“rotation corrected exif tag” hmmm
MDN – I’m a bit pissed and I think I have the right to be. Late last night, a few of us were posting about this on the last thread to inform readers (it was the latest thread and therefore I figured I’d better post it there – ASAP). I posted two quite lengthy informational posts about it and what happened? – YOU DELETED THEM AND THEN PUT THIS THREAD UP. The LEAST you could have done is moved my posts to this particular thread. MDN will you please have a modicum of character and explain to me why this happened? I was not Hijacking a thread, nor was I pointing anyone to the particular site that crashed Safari. I was informing other readers. Take this for example:
“downloaded the picture to my desktop and it crashed finder nonstop.
moved it to the trash and the dock froze.
downloaded it again to a folder then opened the folder and Finder crashed.
Preview crashed when trying to open it.”
I SPECIFICALLY WARNED READERS NOT TO COPY THE IMAGE TO THEIR DESKTOP I also warned that it would crash Mail.app and Preview. My posts were just discarded. WHY?
I think setting up a new thread was needed, but discarding relative info was not. Can I get an answer?
“One more thing. I think posters yesterday, I won’t mention any names, who put links it their posts that where supposed to be an image but instead crashed your browser, are incredibly rude. And should be spanked.”
If MDN had not deleted my posts, you would notice that I WAS NOT on of those people and that I attempted to inform readers about the issue, apparently MDN felt solid information was not important. Thanks MDN.
qka –“Anyone out there care to share their experinece on .wmv files and Intel Macs?”
If you are using Flip4Mac on an Intel-Based Mac, you need to FORCE QuickTime to run under Rosetta because Flip4Mac is not a UB. I got this info off of the Apple discussion forums.
Of course MDN will now promptly delete it since it is good solid information.