Other security issues have also been addressed

Oct 30, 2008 09:30 GMT  ·  By

The Opera Team has released a new version of their feature-packed web browser. As regards the Mac, the update patches two security flaws. The team touts the new release as “a recommended security upgrade.”

Earlier this month, the Opera Team released a new version of their web browser, improving v.9.5-specific features, like Opera Link and Opera Mail, as well as the Scroll Marker. However, the 9.6 update mostly packed security tweaks, making it a must have for Mac, Windows and Linux users alike.

Changes in Opera 9.61 included UI enhancements, but security was still the main focus. On the UI front, the team of developers fixed an issue with Opera Link that could generate duplicate bookmarks during the synchronization process. Also worth noting was another UI tweak, which showed the image toggle button on the status bar as a normal button, and did not have a menu.

Opera 9.62 for Mac is also a security upgrade. The Security section mentions that the team was able to fix an issue where History Search could be used to execute arbitrary code.

“When certain parameters are passed to Opera's History Search, they can cause content not to be correctly sanitized,” says the bug's description, as reported by researcher Aviv Raff. “This can allow scripts to be injected into the History Search results page. Such scripts can then run with elevated privileges and interact with Opera's configuration, allowing them to execute arbitrary code.”

A note on the same page reads that “there have been public demonstrations of this issue, which have altered Opera's setup. Upgrading to 9.62 will not restore these settings. If you have opened any of these demonstrations, you may have to restore your settings manually. Typically, the mailto handler has been changed; it can be restored back to its correct value using Preferences - Advanced - Programs.”

Opera developers have also fixed an issue where the links panel no longer allowed cross-site scripting. To download your latest Mac version of the Opera web browser, use the link below.

Download Opera 9.62 for Mac (Free)