Rumor had it that visiting a maliciously crafted website using Safari may lead to "an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution," because of a memory corruption issue in WebKit's handling of JavaScript arrays. Therefore, Apple has released Safari 3.1.2 for Tiger, available as a free download for all 10.4 11 users.

Safari 3.1.2 for Tiger - 49.2MB

"This update is recommended for all Safari Tiger users and includes stability improvements and the latest security updates," according to Apple. However, this update is included in Mac OS X 10.5.4. As such, if you were going to upgrade to the latest version of Leopard anyway, you might as well skip installing Safari 3.1.2 and go for 10.5.4 right HERE.

The Mac maker's support page reveals that Safari 3.1.2 for Tiger is specifically aimed at Mac OS X 10.4.11 users, as well as users of Mac OS X Server v10.4.11. "Impact: Visiting a maliciously crafted website may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution," the company warns. A more detailed description of the vulnerability says that "a memory corruption issue exists in WebKit's handling of JavaScript arrays. Visiting a maliciously crafted website may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution." With this update, Apple claims to have resolved the issue through "improved bounds checking." Also, the same is addressed in Safari 3.1.2 for Windows XP or Vista, as well as on systems running Mac OS X 10.5.4 (Leopard). James Urquhart is credited for having reported the issue to Apple.

Safari is Apple's standard web browser on Mac OS X, but also on the iPhone and iPod touch. It is touted as the fastest out there and it performs beautifully on Windows-running platforms too. Still, not a month goes by that Apple doesn't have to patch it.

Safari 3.1.2 for Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later is available HERE.