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.
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