Although we all know that Macs are invulnerable, users might want to watch for the latest patch release, and note that there have been some difficulties for those installing it.

Mac OS X update brings major security fixes, some issues

Apple released a major security update for Mac OS X Lion as well as its predecessor, Mac OS X Snow Leopard, on Tuesday.

By Rosa Golijan
03 Feb 2012

Apple released a major security update for Mac OS X on Tuesday. The good news is that this update patches 51 vulnerabilities in the operating system. The bad news is that it appears to be causing pesky issues for some users.

The update — which is available for both Mac OS X Lion as well as Mac OS X Snow Leopard, its predecessor — addresses security flaws in several of Apple's "popular software products and components,"

The issues addressed affect QuickTime, SquirrelMail, Webmail, PHP, Internet Sharing, ColorSync, CoreText, X11, Apache, and the Mac OS X operating system itself.

Also patched was a vulnerability related to Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) which could've potentially allowed those with malicious intent to steal a user's personal information, explains Liebowitz:

Online retailers and other companies that sell products online — Google, Amazon, eBay and Bank of America, just to list a few — use SSL certificates to verify their identities to Web browsers. If someone compromised an SSL certificate, that person could effectively "spoof" legitimate companies' websites and harvest hoards of personal information from customers who believed they were on a legitimate site.

Now while all of the security fixes are great news, there is a possible downside to this most recent Mac OS X update. According to Computerworld's Gregg Keizer, some Mac OS X users are reporting "post-update catastrophes" and saying that "after updating, every application crashed when launched."

[The recommendation is that users should get the update now, but may want to consult Mac forums to get an idea of what problems have been seen before deciding whether to install now or wait for patches for the patch.]

John