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Apple patches Mac OS X hole

edited December 2003 in Science & Tech
Apple has plugged a hole in its Mac OS X operating system, which potentially allowed hackers to take control of a computer. The patch, which Apple released on Friday, essentially changes the default settings for connecting to a Dynamic Host Communication Protocol (DHCP) server on Mac OS X 10.2.8. (aka "Jaguar"), Mac OS X 10.3.2 (aka "Panther") and the corresponding server versions of these operating systems.

[blockquote]Apple Computer has issued a security update that, among other fixes, closes a hole in Mac OS X that could have allowed hackers to take control of a computer under particular circumstances.
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An Apple representative said the probability of a hack occurring was low, because the hacker would have to be an insider.

But William Carrel, a Mac user who runs a Mac security site, said an outside hacker who broke into a corporate network could add a DHCP server to that network. At that point, the outsider could take complete control of unpatched desktops.

"Anyone who can gain access to your network can gain administrator (highest-level) access to your computer and therefore steal your data or launch attacks upon others, as soon as you reboot your machine," Carrel wrote on his site.
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[link=http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/mac/0,39020393,39118737,00.htm]Read more[/link]
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