Apple issues security update for OS X

Apple has released a security update for its OS X Lion, Snow Leopard and Server platforms.

The company said that the OS X 10.7.3 release would patch Lion systems, while the 2012-001 security update would be made available to Snow Leopard and OS X server machines.

The update, Apple's first major OS X security fix of the year, will include some 38 patches for security vulnerabilities in the operating system.

Among the applications and components patched in the update are Apple's QuickTime multimedia tool. The software received fixes for six vulnerabilities which could allow for remote code execution by way of specially crafted image and video files.

Apple also issued updates for the OS X Apache and PHP components, along with fixes for a vulnerability in Time Machine and an update which blocks poorly-secured root certificates from Diginotar Malaysia.

While none of the flaws addressed in the update are known to be used by malware in the wild, OS X users find themselves facing a increasing number of threats.

The emergence of the Mac Defender platform has lead some researchers to conclude that Mac OS will be a more popular target than ever in 2012.

Users can obtain the update by running the OS X software update tool or by manually downloading the package form Apple's support site.

The release comes as Apple is seeing some of its strongest ever Mac sales. The company estimated that last quarter some 5.2 million Macs were sold, up 26 per cent over the previous year.

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• Topics
• Operating Systems
• Security
• Apple
• OS X Lion
• Mac OS
• security patches
• malware