Safari 4.0.4 is Faster and Safer than Previous Versions

Article by George Norman (Cybersecurity Editor)

on 12 Nov 2009

If you are a Windows, Mac OS X Tiger, Leopard or Snow Leopard user and you have Safari 4.0 installed on your machine, then you need to update. Cupertino-based software developer Apple has updated its Safari browser to version 4.0.4. This update makes the browser faster, more stable and more secure. Apple advises all Safari users to update to version 4.0.4

Here are the changes Safari 4.0.4 brings to the table, as detailed by Apple itself:
  • Improved JavaScript performance
  • Improved Full History Search performance for users with a large number of history items
  • Stability improvements for 3rd-party plug-ins, the search field and Yahoo! Mail

And now, here are the security issues that Safari 4.0.4 addresses.
  • CVE-2009-2804: ColorSync (Windows 7, Vista, XP)
Impact: Viewing a maliciously crafted image with an embedded color profile may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution
Description: An integer overflow exists in the handling of images with an embedded color profile, which may lead to a heap buffer overflow. Opening a maliciously crafted image with an embedded color profile may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution. The issue is addressed by performing additional validation of color profiles
  • CVE-2009-2414, CVE-2009-2416: libxml (Mac OS X v10.4.11, Mac OS X Server v10.4.11, Windows 7, Vista, XP)
Impact: Parsing maliciously crafted XML content may lead to an unexpected application termination
Description: Multiple use-after-free issues exist in libxml2, the most serious of which may lead to an unexpected application termination. This update addresses the issues through improved memory handling.
  • CVE-2009-2842: Safari (Mac OS X v10.4.11, Mac OS X Server v10.4.11, Mac OS X v10.5.8, Mac OS X Server v10.5.8, Mac OS X v10.6.1 and v10.6.2, Mac OS X Server v10.6.1 and v10.6.2, Windows 7, Vista, XP)
Impact: Using shortcut menu options within a maliciously crafted website may lead to the disclosure of local information
Description: An issue exists in Safari's handling of navigations initiated via the "Open Image in New Tab", "Open Image in New Window", or "Open Link in New Tab" shortcut menu options. Using these options within a maliciously crafted website could load a local HTML file, leading to the disclosure of sensitive information. The issue is addressed by disabling the listed shortcut menu options when the target of a link is a local file.
  • CVE-2009-2816: WebKit (Mac OS X v10.4.11, Mac OS X Server v10.4.11, Mac OS X v10.5.8, Mac OS X Server v10.5.8, Mac OS X v10.6.1 and v10.6.2, Mac OS X Server v10.6.1 and v10.6.2, Windows 7, Vista, XP)
Impact: Visiting a maliciously crafted website may result in unexpected actions on other websites
Description: An issue exists in WebKit's implementation of Cross-Origin Resource Sharing. Before allowing a page from one origin to access a resource in another origin, WebKit sends a preflight request to the latter server for access to the resource. WebKit includes custom HTTP headers specified by the requesting page in the preflight request. This can facilitate cross-site request forgery. This issue is addressed by removing custom HTTP headers from preflight requests.
  • CVE-2009-3384: WebKit (Windows 7, Vista, XP)
Impact: Accessing a maliciously crafted FTP server could result in an unexpected application termination, information disclosure, or arbitrary code execution
Description: Multiple vulnerabilities exist in WebKit's handling of FTP directory listings. Accessing a maliciously crafted FTP server may lead to information disclosure, unexpected application termination, or execution of arbitrary code. This update addresses the issues through improved parsing of FTP directory listings.
  • CVE-2009-2841: WebKit (Mac OS X v10.4.11, Mac OS X Server v10.4.11, Mac OS X v10.5.8, Mac OS X Server v10.5.8, Mac OS X v10.6.1 and v10.6.2, Mac OS X Server v10.6.1 and v10.6.2)
Impact: Mail may load remote audio and video content when remote image loading is disabled
Description: When WebKit encounters an HTML 5 Media Element pointing to an external resource, it does not issue a resource load callback to determine if the resource should be loaded. This may result in undesired requests to remote servers. As an example, the sender of an HTML-formatted email message could use this to determine that the message was read. This issue is addressed by generating resource load callbacks when WebKit encounters an HTML 5 Media Element.

If you would like to download Safari 4.0.4, you can grab it straight from Apple
here.


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