14 DAY TRIAL // Apple surprised everyone by releasing a Windows version of their Safari browser. While the Windows version of Safari may look and behave almost identically to the OS X version, it seems to be far more deserving of the beta label than its Mac counterpart. Not only have many users reported a host of bugs for the Windows version, but various security researchers have found a large number of vulnerabilities and exploits. Despite this less than perfect start, Apple seems to be on the ball.
A new version of Safari for Windows has been released, 3.0.1, having many security improvements over the initial release. Apple's response has been incredibly quick on the matter, with mere days between the discovery of the vulnerability and the update going live. While update was only for the Windows platform, the Cupertino Company did point out in the release that the OS X version does not suffer from these vulnerabilities.
Safari 3.0.1 Public Beta for Windows addresses the following issues in Safari 3 Public Beta for Windows:
CVE-ID: CVE-2007-3186 Impact: Visiting a malicious website may lead to arbitrary code execution. Description: A command injection vulnerability exists in the Windows version of Safari 3 Public Beta. By enticing a user to visit a maliciously crafted web page, an attacker can trigger the issue which may lead to arbitrary code execution. This update addresses the issue by performing additional processing and validation of URLs. This does not pose a security issue on Mac OS X systems, but could lead to an unexpected termination of the Safari browser.
CVE-ID: CVE-2007-3185 Impact: Visiting a malicious website may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution. Description: An out-of-bounds memory read issue in Safari 3 Public Beta for Windows may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution when visiting a malicious website. This issue does not affect Mac OS X systems.
CVE-ID: CVE-2007-2391 Impact: Visiting a malicious website may allow cross-site scripting. Description: A race condition in Safari 3 Public Beta for Windows may allow cross site scripting. Visiting a maliciously crafted web page may allow access to JavaScript objects or the execution of arbitrary JavaScript in the context of another web page. This issue does not affect Mac OS X systems.