Apple update patches 31 security flaws

Apple has released a new security update that patches 31 security flaws in various versions of its Mac OS X operating system.

Twelve of the 22 patched software components suffer from flaws that could allow for remote code execution. Other fixes deal with vulnerabilities ranging from denial of service attacks to system privilege escalation.

Among the vulnerabilities patched in the update is an Airport vulnerability first publicised by researcher H D Moore on the first day of his Month of Kernal Bugs (MoKB) project.

However, the update leaves several other security flaws unveiled by the researcher wide open.

Updates for third-party open source components accounted for seven of the fixed components. Perl, openSSL, and gnuzip all received fixes in the update.

Apple's Security Framework software received four patches in the update, though none of the vulnerabilities could allow for remote code execution and only two affected the most recent version of the operating system.

Apple's last OS X update was issued in October and addressed 15 security flaws. While today's update was considerably larger than the October update, it is roughly half as large as last May's security fixes, in which Apple addressed 43 security vulnerabililities.