Mac flaw puts Safari surfers at risk

A serious security flaw in Mac OS X opens machines with Apple's Safari Web browser to hijack by outsiders, Secunia has warned.

The vulnerability and "proof of concept" code to exploit it were released on Wednesday as part of the Month of Apple Bugs project. It affects Mac OS X 10.4.8, the most recent version of Apple's operating system and, possibly, previous versions, security researcher LMH said in the posting on MOAB's Web site.

The flaw can be exploited if the Mac user has enabled an option in Safari to "open safe files after downloading," Secunia said in an advisory Thursday. The security company has rated the problem "highly critical."

"It is never good to have something open automatically when you download it, so users should disable this automatic feature in Safari," said Thomas Kristensen, Secunia's chief technology officer.

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