I usually refrain from posting “theoretical” OS X exploits since they rarely pose any real threat to Mac users. However, several sources are now reporting multiple Mac Trojan horses in the wild. These Trojans exploit a root vulnerability in Apple Remote Desktop Agent in Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5.
This exploit has been rated as “critical”, but it does require that a user download and open the Trojan file.
Pay attention, folks. We knew that Macs would come more and more into hackers focus as market-share grew.
Apple announced OS X 10.6 named Snow Leopard as more of a performance release rather than a feature release.
Some of the announced changes include a smaller footprint (giving back some hard drive space), Microsoft Exchange support, extended 64-bit support to allow a theoretical 16TB of RAM, faster clock speeds with the multicore “Grand Central” technology, and QuickTime X which includes optimized support for the latest codecs.
It’s not known yet whether Snow Leopard is the beginning of dropped support for PowerPC by Apple. Several developers are reporting that their developer preview copy runs only on Intel machines.
The rumors are that this will be a free upgrade, but that hasn’t been announced yet.
GNU Tar
Impact: Extracting a maliciously crafted tar archive could overwrite arbitrary files
iChat
Impact: A person on the local network may initiate a video connection without the user’s approval
IO Storage Family
Impact: Opening a maliciously crafted disk image may lead to an unexpected system shutdown or arbitrary code execution
Launch Services
Impact: Opening a maliciously crafted HTML file may lead to information disclosure or cross-site scripting
Impact: Opening an executable mail attachment may lead to arbitrary code execution with no warning
Mail
Impact: SMTP accounts set up through Account Assistant may use plaintext authentication even when MD5 Challenge-Response authentication is available
Quick Look
Impact: Previewing a file with QuickLook enabled may lead to the disclosure of sensitive information
Impact: Previewing a movie file may access URLs contained in the movie
Safari
Impact: Visiting a malicious website may result in the disclosure of sensitive information
Safari RSS
Impact: Accessing a maliciously crafted feed: URL may lead to an application termination or arbitrary code execution
Samba
Impact: Multiple vulnerabilities in Samba
Shockwave Plug-in
Impact: Opening maliciously crafted Shockwave content may lead to arbitrary code execution
SMB
Impact: A local user may be able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges
Software Update
Impact: A man-in-the-middle attack could cause Software Update to execute arbitrary commands
Spin Tracer
Impact: A local user may be able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges
Spotlight
Impact: Downloading a maliciously crafted .xls file may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution
Get a look at Apple’s full descriptions of issues and fixes at their site: Security Update 2007-009
The QuickTime vulnerability originally reported on November 15 seems to have been spotted in the wild. This is not good news.
Apple made a decision to change the firewall settings in Leopard, provoking some serious questions about the security of this new OS. This latest security issue puts a spotlight on what may become a real thorn in Apple’s side.
This from Symantec:
Originally, the flaw was disclosed on November 23, 2007 by Polish security researcher Krystian Kloskowski and since then we have seen number of exploits targeting the vulnerability being released to the public. But now the exploit is active and in the wild, meaning web surfers are in danger of being attacked. Our current analysis is also leading us to believe that there may be multiple attacks in existence. Further investigation is currently under way to confirm this.
Let me briefly explain what we have seen. The attack we have confirmed today begins with the popular IFRAME. An IFRAME code that causes the browser to make an additional request to another URL, is embedded in a porn site. Without knowledge, users visiting this site are redirected to the malicious site serving the exploit. Currently, the malware that is downloaded by the exploit is detected by Symantec as Downloader. We are still studying the attack in depth, so look out for more information at a later time.
Since a patch to correct the issue has yet to be released, we advise users to be cautious when browsing the web. For those of you seeking extra protection, we also recommend the following options:
- Run web browsers at the highest security settings possible
- Disable Apple QuickTime as a registered RTSP protocol handler.
- Filter outgoing activity over common RTSP ports, including TCP port 554 and UDP ports 6970-6999.
The casual user of Apple’s new operating system, Leopard, may not be aware that unlike in Tiger, the firewall is off by default. To turn it on, you’ll need to go to System Preferences/Security/Firewall tab.
This is a new interface which lets you specify firewall blocking by application rather than ports or services (unlike Tiger). There have been several reports that Leopard’s firewall does not behave like Tiger’s. In some cases, it appears that it is not blocking certain services indicated by the settings.
Stay tuned for ongoing information regarding Leopard’s firewall issues, including some other security issues arising from Leopard’s Screen Sharing capabilities.
Apple announced OS X 10.6 named Snow Leopard as more of a performance release rather than a feature release.
