Apple Patches 13 Safari Browser Vulnerabilities

Apple has shipped a new version of its flagship Safari Web browser to fix more than a dozen security vulnerabilities affecting both Windows and Mac users.

The new Safari 3.1 includes patches for at least 13 documented flaws, including one that puts Mac OS X users at risk of drive-by code execution attacks.

According to an advisory released by Apple, a specially rigged Web page can be used to exploit a buffer overflow in Webkit -- the open-source Web browser engine used by Safari -- to cause the browser to crash or to launch executable code.

That flaw, reported by the Google Security team, is described as a buffer overflow in WebKit's handling of JavaScript regular expressions.

Resource Library:

The Safari 3.1 update also fixes:

CVE-2007-4680: Available for Windows XP and Vista.  An issue exists in the validation of certificates. A man-in-the-middle attacker may be able to direct the user to a legitimate site with a valid SSL certificate, then re-direct the user to a spoofed Web site that incorrectly appears to be trusted. This could allow user credentials or other information to be collected.

CVE-2008-0050: Available Windows XP or Vista. A malicious HTTPS proxy server may return arbitrary data to CFNetwork in a 502 Bad Gateway error, which could allow a secure Web site to be spoofed. This update addresses the issue by returning an error on any proxy error, instead of returning the proxy-supplied data.

CVE-2008-1001: A cross-site scripting issue exists in Safari's error page. By enticing a user to open a maliciously crafted URL, an attacker may cause the disclosure of sensitive information. This issue only affects Windows XP and Vista users.

CVE-2008-1002: Available for Mac OS X v10.4.11, Mac OS X v10.5.2, Windows XP or Vista. A cross-site scripting issue exists in the processing of javascript: URLs. Enticing a user to visit a maliciously crafted Web page could allow the execution of JavaScript in the context of another site.

CVE-2008-1003: This is a WebCore vulnerability that affects Mac OS X v10.4.11, Mac OS X v10.5.2, Windows XP or Vista. An issue exists with the handling of Web pages that have explicitly set the document.domain property. This could lead to a cross-site scripting attack in sites that set the document.domain property, or between HTTP and HTTPS sites with the same document.domain.

CVE-2008-1004: Available for Mac OS X v10.4.11, Mac OS X v10.5.2, Windows XP or Vista. An issue in Web Inspector allows a page being inspected to escalate its privileges by injecting script that will run in other domains and read the user's file system. This update addresses the issue by preventing Javascript code on remote pages from being run.

CVE-2008-1005: Available for Mac OS X v10.4.11, Mac OS X v10.5.2, Windows XP or Vista. The content of password fields on Web pages is normally hidden to guard against disclosing it to others with the ability to see the display. An issue exists with the use of the Kotoeri input method, which could result in exposing the password field content on the display when reverse conversion is requested.

CVE-2008-1006: The window.open() function may be used to change the security context of a Web page to the caller's context. Enticing a user to open a maliciously crafted page could allow an arbitrary script to be executed in the user's security context.  This affects Mac OS X v10.4.11, Mac OS X v10.5.2, Windows XP or Vista.

CVE-2008-1007: The frame navigation policy is not enforced for Java applets. By enticing a user to open a maliciously crafted Web page, an attacker may obtain elevated privileges through a cross-site scripting attack using Java. This update addresses the issue by enforcing the frame navigation policy for Java applets. Available for Mac OS X v10.4.11, Mac OS X v10.5.2, Windows XP or Vista.

The update also fixes four additional cross-site scripting issues affecting WebCore and Webkit.