Wow, stop the presses. Security flaws on a *nix based system. Boy that's news no one expected. Or does somehow the magic Apple logo protect you from all harm - and Bill Gates?

Now we will just have to sit and wait for Steve Gibson's assessment that Apple intentionally left these exploits open as a backdoor to the system!

ZDNet Australia is running a story that claims OS X 'contains unpatched security flaws of a type that were fixed on alternative operating systems more than a decade ago.'

Only in the Southern Hemisphere. Up here, trolls rotate counterclockwise.

Thank God people have almost cracked running Windows XP on these new Mactels!

Good thing I use Windows ME.

It must have happened when they translated the binary off of the stone tablets, likely because they were limited to only bronze tools.

...a type that were fixed on alternative operating systems...

That's the first time I've heard operating systems other than OSX described as "alternative".

--Rob

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

We need a mod category for "baiting the untold OSX masses".

Please, this is no place for vulgarity.

Considering the user must be priviliged is it safe to say that the user has already authenticated and in the system. I always use passwords like "asldkfje983r0u!56@#987$%^rnYA(*U()*U&0u" for standard users. If they can crack that they deserve to gain admin rights too. You should see my admin key: it is a 10^12 digit mersenne prime.

Or does somehow the magic Apple logo protect you from all harm - and Bill Gates?

It protects you from everything up to the Triassic period. After that, you're on your own. These were ancient flaws, vulerable to ancient threats. Don't boot up in a museum of natural history or you're toast.

My name is Inigo Montoya, you referenced Princess Bride, prepare to read the same joke ten thousand times.

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

I ain't got a fucking clue what you guys are talking about, but hey! When in Rome.

Hey, it doesn't matter and mac os X is uber secure.

Where are all the OSX exploits??? I've been running without a virus scanner, although I back up frequently. Nothing, no spywear, viruses etc.

Are there probably exploits possible. Yes of course. But Apple's security record has been very very good.

This is absolute hogwash.

That does it! I'm swiching back to Micorosoft Bob!

Is that, like, a decoder ring or a shoe-phone?

It must have happened when they translated the binary off of the stone tablets

Rosetta will remedy all that.

Yup, good thing I'm using your Windows ME as well.

When I saw the headlines I thought someone had found Egyptian Hieroglyphs from aliens explaining how to break into OSX.

Guess my definition of Ancient isn't the same as the posters.

Or does somehow the magic Apple logo protect you from all harm - and Bill Gates?

You see, you hold a crucifix straight up and down for Vampires; cock it 45 degrees so it sort of looks like the Apple logo, and you'll keep Gates away! But, there's a problem with Balmer, you also need the Firefox logo to ward him off. Sometimes, you need Nerdy, the MS Slayer. She's, yes, it's a woman, the chosen one. I can't say anymore now.

You should see my admin key: it is a 10^12 digit mersenne prime.

Also known as the number of days you'll be spending as a virgin.

And then it was like... beepbeepbeepbeep, and then, like, half my accounts were gone. And I was like, huh?

They were really good accounts too. And then I had to recreate them and I had to do it fast, and they weren't as good...

I was myself wondering what a non-privileged user with admin rights was. But a few more reads finds that it means that the exploit gives admin rights to non-priveleged users.

LOL. I had to run and find an extinguisher to quence that BURN.

Now that's not fair. It's entirely possible that Mr. Archibald is very passionate about source code auditing and that his business and this story are just outpourings of... BWAHAHAHA. Oh geez, I can't believe I typed that for so long.

Yeah, good point.

Hehe...

Guess my definition of Ancient isn't the same as the posters.

No kidding. And I also thought that flaws were those things they stand on in Boston.

No, backdoors around here are anything butt ambiguous. ...

10) Ten million+ active boxes still "too small a number" to target.

9) Worlds virus writers all work at Valve; have no idea what the hell OS X is.

8) OS X originally scheduled to have virus this year; pushed back till Q2 next year to add Intel support and a Universal Binary.

7) Russian Mafia all actually use Macs, tell underlings to keep macs virus free so they don't have to run virus scanners.

6) Forget buffer overflows; real mechanism viruses use to spread is actually second mouse button.

5) No viruses released for sale on ITMS yet.

4) Actually viruses everywhere but Jobs Reality Distorition Field keeps Mac users thinking they are not there.

3) XCode secretly detects and transforms viruses into RSS readers instead at compile time; explains glut on Macs.

2) Virus writers accientally drug virus into one of several hundred "Untitled Folders" on Desktop, now have no idea where it is.

1) Mac owners just too damn pretty for God to let them get viruses.

When we spoke to Apple on the phone about this issue, the security team had never even heard of the application, and burst out laughing at the simplicity of the vulnerability," said Archibald.

don't take it personally. seriously. They were laughing with you, not at you.

Someday these smug mac users are going to get their comeuppance.

Really.

Someday.

Any day now...

It's worse than that. GRC has recently discovered that OS X uses something called "Sockets" which, if used incorrectly, could not only completely destroy the entire Internet but also reach out from inside your computer to turn down the dial in the freezer and make all of your ice cream go melty. It's that bad.

Your only protection against this is Steve Gibson's patented new "Snake Oil!" technology which uses a combination of Stealth PicoWankoProbulators and Network Monkeyspanks to defeat all known "Socket" based attacks. Why Apple chose to include such dangerous technology in every release of OS X is a mystery, but only by paying Steve Gibson a large amount of money can you ever hope to protect yourself against it.

I sincerely hope that your sig has nothing to do with your post