Apple patches 802.11n Airports

Security fix covers two holes in base station's software

Written by Shaun Nichols in California

Advertisement

A new security update from Apple addresses two flaws in the company's Airport Extreme wireless hubs.

The patch only affects the latest 802.11n base stations. 802.11n-equipped notebooks, desktops, and earlier model Airport base stations are not affected.

The more serious of the two vulnerabilities could allow a hacker to access a network and carry out remote attacks. By default, some systems were not configured to block incoming IPv6 traffic, allowing for unsolicited connections to be made without the user's knowledge.

The second of the two vulnerabilities lies within the Airport disk component. This allows for a USB storage device to be connected to the base station and added to the wireless network. If exploited, the vulnerability could allow an attacker to view filenames on the USB disk. The attacker would not, however, be able to open any files or applications.

Macintosh wireless networking components has been the subject of several vulnerability reports in recent months. Last August, a pair of researchers demonstrated an attack on a MacBook Pro using a 3rd-party networking card. In November, security researcher HD Moore revealed an exploit that targeted older Macs. Apple patched Airport-specific vulnerabilities in September and November.

The latest Airport update can be downloaded from Apple's support site.

Tags:

Further reading

Related articles

Related whitepapers

Related jobs

Do you agree?

Most commented stories

IT white papers

Search vnunet IThound

Top categories

Job of the week

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Hiring now on ComputingCareers:

Related IT jobs

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Advertisement

Newsletter signup

Sign up for our range of FREE newsletters:

Existing User

Newsletter user login:

Enter email address to edit your newsletter preferences

Watch

05 Sep 2008

8.64 MBPodcast Special: Views from the Valley More...

Podcast image

04 Sep 2008

12.7 MBComputing podcast 4 September 2008 More...

Podcast logo

02 Sep 2008

8.39 MBEco-Entrepreneur Podcast: Bulldog More...

Poll

INTERNET EXPLORER 8

INTERNET EXPLORER 8

Are you intending to download Internet Explorer 8 when it becomes available?

Previous poll results

Spotlight

LogMeIn Rescue+Mobile

BlackBerry gets LogMeIn remote support

Rescue+Mobile lets a support technician take control of the handset   More...

Dell manufacturing plant

Dell planning factory closures to cut costs

Report claims that PC maker is looking to sell off...  More...

Google Chrome

More growing pains for Chrome

Google wrestles with licensing and security problems   More...

Smartphone

US takes 3G crown from Europe

Americans finally catch up with Europeans in adoption of 3G   More...

Primary Navigation