Sunday, September 4, 2016

Apple patches OS X to fix serious security flaw discovered in iOS


Apple has issued new security updates for El Capitan and Yosemite, as well as its Safari browser, fixing the same serious security vulnerability discovered in its iOS software last week. As with the urgent iOS 9.3.5 update, Mac owners should grab today's OS X updates as soon as possible, fixing problems that could otherwise give malicious software access to your device's kernel.
Release notes for the patches point to problems with validation and memory corruption with the OS X versions, while the new Safari — version 9.1.3 — stops websites from running the malware in the first place. Ahmed Mansoor, a human rights researcher from the United Arab Emirates, was the first to face an attack using the exploit last month. Mansoor was sent an SMS message with a suspicious link that, if he had followed, would have allowed malware to drill down into his iPhone's kernel, essentially jailbreaking it without his knowledge.
Fortunately, Mansoor was wise enough not to follow the unknown link, and kept his phone safe. Copy his lead and download all of today's Mac security updates as soon as possible — as well as the iOS 9.3.5 update, if you haven't already.

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