Slashdot Mirror
Security Update 2003-08-14 Released
Delta-9 writes "Today, Apple released Security Update 2003-08-14, which 'addresses a potential vulnerability in the fb_realpath() function which could allow a local or remote user to gain unauthorized root privileges to a system.'" It's on Software Update, and will likely soon appear on the support downloads page.
The advisory was posted some full two weeks ago, meaning that Apple was not as quick to respond as they normally are.
;-)
The East Coast has reverted to the stone age, my Windows machine is insulting me, but there's Apple with another Security Update for a *potential* weakness...
Damn, you've got to admire their timing
I think, therefore I am...I think.
More often than not, the reboots are *technically* unnecessary. Sometimes the reboots are just to ensure some daemon gets reloaded correctly and by the correct parent process. It could be done with a script, but could easily be foiled by the unknown state of any given user's machine.
Finally, sometimes reboots are necessary because they are replacing/updating the kernel itself. IANAKE (I am not a kernel engineer), but I have heard that not all kernel alterations can be done without reboot.
For the record, I hope they quit the reboot thing, and I wish every 3rd party developer realizes that NOTHING he is installing needs a reboot, EVER.
Yeah, you know what else sucks? I have to turn off my car to work on the engine. Its a huge pain in the ass, you gotta get out and walk around....
In seriousness, OS X is sooo much better than OS 9 in this regard. Device drivers don't usually need a reboot, just security updates and really low-level stuff... and these are things you want to reboot for, to take advantage of the improvements!
Besides, if you want to, you can force-quit the installer. Just keep working and shut down when you're done - tomorrow your update will be there.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.