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Apple fixes 69 vulnerabilities in Mac OS X

By Hani Megerisi

Posted on 30 Mar 2010 at 13:58

Apple has released a security update addressing 69 vulnerabilities in its Leopard and Snow Leopard operating systems.

Quicktime alone accounts for nine vulnerabilities fixed in the Mac OS X v10.6.3 Update, the most serious of which could allow remote code execution when viewing “maliciously crafted” movie and MPEG files. Another fix should bring an end to memory corruptions when QuickTime plays H.264 and Sorenson movie files.

The patch also beefs up Snow Leopard's ImageIO framework, which should help protect the operating system against malicious image files.

Alongside the security fixes, the update brings a raft of bug fixes to Apple's operating systems. A colour issue that pops up when playing HD content with iMovie has been fixed, and Apple has promised to increase the reliability of third-party USB input devices, and improve printing reliability.

The update also addresses a curious bug in Snow Leopard's firewall, which deactivates rules and exceptions after reboot. The update comes hot on the heels of the Pwn2own contest, and Apple has credited “anonymous researchers” with discovering 11 of the 69 flaws.

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User comments

69 dude!

(Sorry, couldn't resist the Bill and Ted reference.)

By Grunthos on 30 Mar 2010

Never seen that many from MS

As the title says, Leopard must have been horribly buggy and vulnerable to require such a huge number of fixes in one go. Never seen the number from MS even get close to 69 for a single update.

By skarlock on 30 Mar 2010

This is what the average user will see with the update. Not exactly playing up the 69 vulnerabilities are they?

The 10.6.3 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, including fixes that:
improve the reliability and compatibility of QuickTime X
address compatibility issues with OpenGL-based applications
address an issue that causes background message colors to display incorrectly in Mail
resolve an issue that prevented files with the # or & characters in their names from opening in Rosetta applications
resolve an issue that prevented files from copying to Windows file servers
improve performance of Logic Pro 9 and Main Stage 2 when running in 64-bit mode
improve sleep and wake reliability when using Bonjour wake on demand
address a color issue in iMovie with HD content
improve printing reliability
resolve issues with recurring events in iCal when connected to an Exchange server
improve the reliability of 3rd party USB input devices
fix glowing, stuck, or dark pixels when viewing video from the iMac (Late 2009) built-in iSight camera
For detailed information on this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4014.
For information on the security content of this update, please visit: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

By Shuflie on 30 Mar 2010

@skarlock

I don't know, the 13th October 2009, my Microsoft patch server lists 128 separate patches! ;-)

Like the Apple patch, that also includes patches for non-core OS components, like mail, browser, .Net framework and SQL Server.

By big_D on 31 Mar 2010

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