“An exploit for one of the 15 vulnerabilities patched by Apple on Friday has been posted to a malware Web site, Symantec said Monday,” Gregg Keizer reports for TechWeb.
“The code, which has appeared on the ‘milw0rm‘ site, exploits a bug that Apple Computer identified within the operating system’s kernel,” Keizer reports.
“‘The exploit payload executes /usr/bin/id, and as such would need to be replaced with a more useful payload to be used effectively,’ noted Symantec in an alert to customers of its DeepSight threat system,” Keizer reports.
Keizer reports, “Apple patched the flaw in the Mac OS X 10.4.8 upgrade it rolled out on its download site and made available via automatic update on Friday.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: This is not the first time time malware for already-patched systems (for Mac, Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, etc.) has appeared – and it certainly won’t be the last. In related news, a Mr. J. Sixpack of East Bumfsck, Ohio, solved last week’s NY Times crossword puzzle just days after The NY Times published the answers. Congrats!
Note to Mac OS X users: run Software Update or click the related article below for links to update your systems. Note to all personal computer users: keep your system up-to-date and do not download, install and run software from untrusted sources.
Related article:
Apple releases Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.8 – September 29, 2006
I had heard that Mr. J. Sixpack of East Bumfsck, Ohio was buried a few months ago. His named was changed to Mr. Pack post mortem once the coroner had determined that he drank himself to death. His wife had already left him before he died quoted as saying, “I couldn’t take it any lager. Pabst I can find a better life. Maybe even the high life.”
Ampar, you crack me up. But are you sure you’re correct? I heard it was Steve Ballmer. Just checking.
jay: Only if Ballmer swallows his own balls. It could happen.
“I couldn’t take it any lager. Pabst I can find a better life. Maybe even the high life.”
BADUM-TISH!!
(rimshot!)
Thanks, Tempus Fugit!
@john
“moot” not “mute”
fyi, most exploits on the windows side are also for vulnerabilities that are already patched. Only the most talented blackhats are able to find new vulnerabilties, the less bright or ambitious ones simply take a look at the security fixes by microsoft to find an attack vector. Still on the windows side of things there are so many systems which don’t get patched early enough that it doesn’t really matter.
What I am saying is this: I think it is really time for you mdn reasd4ers to put away the koolaid, really, all your snotty remarks show is that you are pretty ignorant. Yes, OS X is probably more secure than windows by design, but there are still a *lot* of vulnerabilities. What do you think what “allows arbitrary code execution” means which you see all the time in the patchdescriptions? On the windows side, every such vulnerability would spawn a new virus/worm. I think it is time for you guys to admit that security through obscurity *is* an important aspect when you ask why OS X does not have any really threatening malware.
As another example, just take a look at firefox. It was always advertized to be very secure, but as soon as it reached a critical mass, vulnerabilities are popping up left and right.
Patched vulnerabilities are not exploits.
Show me a virus attacking Macs in the wild.
Until then STFU.
HAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA
MacSheep
Baaaa
Lets look at the numbers for why being an unpopular platform works for you.
Lets look at two operating systems. lets say one has 2% of the worldwide installed base, and another has 90% of the base.
Furthermore lets assume we have a trojan which spreads via email. Lets assume it infects 100% of systems of it’s operating system type that it’s mailed to. Lets assume every person has 50 new unique contacts who have not already been infected, and share the 2%/90% split of mac vs PC usage.
All these assumptions are quite generous
So what happens with infection rates.
After 18 iterations of the virus spreading 18 people are infected on the 2% side. (Why, the system mails to 50 people, one of whom has Mac OS X, and he gets infected, then he infects one more person and so on)
On the 90% side, 13,012,854,428,464,600,000,000,000,000 systems are infected (As if so many existed)
the virus mails to 50 people, 45 of whom have Windows, who each infect another 45 and so on and so on.
Now that model is necessarily simplistic, because it assumes that at each level there are “new” contacts to be infected, and that everybody’s mix of contacts has the same OS split. But even if you make it a little more sophisticated, you’ll still get a similar low rate for Mac OS X, since for small numbers of infections, the assumptions hold pretty well.
Now give Mac OS X 3% of the base, 2,954 people get infected.
Give Mac OS X 4% of the base, 262,143 people get infected.
Now give Mac OS X 5% of the base, 9,701,276 people get infected.
Now we’re starting to talk a decent infection rate.
So if you think that anything more than pathetic market share is saving you, think again.