Apple could be putting users at risk of downloading malicious code
from the web, according to a leading security researcher and author.
Nitesh
Dhanjani said he is concerned that Apple's Safari browser downloads
content from the web without seeking users' permission. Other popular
browsers, like Internet Explorer and Firefox, ask users by default if
they would like to download the software in question.
"The
implication of this is obvious: malware downloaded to the user's
desktop without the user's consent," said Dhanjani, writing in his blog
on the website of global publisher O'Reilly.
Dhanjani, who works
full-time for Ernst & Young's application security services
division, said he had approached Apple about the issue, which remained
uncommitted to changing the situation.
"We are not treating this
as a security issue. We can file that as an enhancement request for the
Safari team," Apple told Dhanjani.
The Mac maker added: "We want to set your expectations that this could take quite a while, if it ever gets incorporated."
Dhanjani
added that he had found a separate high risk vulnerability affecting
Safari. He said that flaw could lead to hackers remotely stealing files
from the victim's hard drive. Dhanjani said Apple told him it was
working to resolve the issue and develop a patch.
Apple could offer no further comment at the time of writing.
Separately,
an Israeli security researcher has found a zero-day vulnerability in
Internet Explorer. Aviv Raff said the flaw, which he found in a
printing function, could allow an attacker to launch arbitrary code on
the victim's machine if the victim visited a malicious website.
Microsoft
argued that the flaw was not a major threat despite the exploit code
being publicly available, and added that it would be "likely" to
deliver a patch. The flaw affects versions 7 and 8 of the software
running on Windows XP, the latter version of which is currently in beta.