Apple Documents the Full Content of Mac OS X 10.6.6 - Release Notes

In a post to the Support section of its web site, Apple reveals that the purpose of Mac OS X 10.6.6 was not only to deliver the Mac App Store, but also to address a security issue, as well as several other bugs.

The main purpose of releasing Mac OS X 10.6.6 yesterday was, indeed, the Mac App Store.

“The Mac App Store, a new application you'll find in the Dock, includes the following features,” Apple said.

Discover Mac apps: Browse featured apps, top charts, and categories, or search for something specific.
Buy and install: Easily purchase apps with your iTunes account. Apps install in one step and are quickly available from the Dock.
App updates: The Mac App Store keeps track of all your purchased apps and notifies you when free updates are available.

However, going by Support document HT4459, the sixth incremental release of Snow Leopard brought some additional improvements.

Security wise, the package addresses a flaw where a potential man-in-the-middle attacker may be able to cause an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution.

Apple describes the vulnerability as folows:

"A format string issue exists in PackageKit's handling of distribution scripts. A man-in-the-middle attacker may be able to cause an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution when Software Update checks for new updates.

This issue is addressed through improved validation of distribution scripts. This issue does not affect systems prior to Mac OS X v10.6. Credit to Aaron Sigel of vtty.com for reporting this issue."

Continuing with the release notes for Mac OS X 10.6.6, the Cupertino giant mentions that all the improvements in the previous 10.6.1, 10.6.2, 10.6.3, 10.6.4 and 10.6.5 updates are included.

Last, but not least Apple reveals that OS X 10.6.6 also addresses a cropping issue with some postscript printing in landscape page orientation, and resolves an issue with some Macs (that have in ATI graphics card) in which the mouse pointer movement could become erratic if an external DVI display is connected.