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Sigh. I guess Mac coddles users too much
A silly local privilege escalation is no big deal?

Had you considered that a trojan horse program (one that does something nefarious as well as something useful) could use this to gain root access to OS X and then install a bot?

Because your wife or your son installed a game or a utility (which doesn't require root access!) your box is now owned by a trojan horse with full root privilege and it can do anything on your OS X box a trojan with root access could do on a Windows box. And no, you would *not* be prompted with a supervisor password window either.

Windows may be hacked a lot, but in the process we've learned a lot of nasty tricks that can be played using the smallest of cracks. A local privilege escalation may not be a remote hack--until the little game Johnny installed creates a backdoor!

Then it *is*. In the amoral world of criminals, complacency is an open invitation to disaster.
Posted by: wolf_z   Posted on: 10/04/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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"Appears" to have been written before the patch?  Ken_z | 10/02/06
It is a good thing  Qbt | 10/02/06
making people think . . .  brian ansorge | 10/02/06
You are safe...  Qbt | 10/02/06
Oh gawd [rolling eyes] . . . here we go again  brian ansorge | 10/02/06
arketshare  galileon | 10/02/06
According to all the research ...  ShadeTree | 10/03/06
"these here internets are for the big boys..."  rafe01 | 10/03/06
Internets?!  Rocketdude | 10/03/06
Awesome!  tic swayback | 10/03/06
such a dumb argument...  doctorSpoc | 10/03/06
A myth. I agree.  xuniL_z | 10/03/06
Not so......  Laff | 10/03/06
"can only be exploited by a logged-in user"  georgep_z | 10/03/06
*** for Tat  wjkahlssmd@... | 10/03/06
Some of that MIGHT have been valid pre MacTels and Parallels or boot camp  Laff | 10/03/06
Not So Fast  wjkahlssmd@... | 10/03/06
Just as fast... (OT)  Fred Fredrickson | 10/03/06
Neck and Ankle  wjkahlssmd@... | 10/03/06
Hmmmm I guess I was considering the NEXT or upgrae purchase  Laff | 10/03/06
fast  wacho | 10/03/06
OEM Licenses of XP are only good valid for the box ...  ShadeTree | 10/03/06
I would like someone to try and get back to me.  Laff | 10/03/06
Easy to get back to you.  ShadeTree | 10/04/06
Jsut talked to one of my PC guy...  Laff | 10/04/06
Good luck with that P2P activation key.  ShadeTree | 10/04/06
A lot but not all?  Laff | 10/04/06
not a fair comparison...  doh123 | 10/03/06
Unfortunately Apple does not offer stripped down models  MacGeek2121 | 10/04/06
People are just tinkering and learning  Boot_Agnostic | 10/03/06
Another Problem - Now with OSuX  jpr75_z | 10/03/06
Let me ask you this then  Shelendrea | 10/03/06
My Beemer . . .  brian ansorge | 10/03/06
What gets me the most about these ignorant MS shills .  I'm Ye, the MS SHILL . | 10/03/06
If you had looked before you posted ...  ShadeTree | 10/03/06
So is it really as simple as being black and white?  Laff | 10/03/06
Look in the mirror ...  ShadeTree | 10/03/06
I do look in the mirror and find it hard to pull away...such a good  Laff | 10/03/06
I don't find men that attractive but ...  ShadeTree | 10/04/06
Perhaps..but for the life of me I don't see myself as being  Laff | 10/04/06
Depends  rapson | 10/03/06
Oops  rapson | 10/03/06
Good one...  Laff | 10/03/06
Advertising exploits apparantly has it's effects...  BitTwiddler | 10/03/06
Silly local privilege escalation  RealNonZealot | 10/03/06
Sigh. I guess Mac coddles users too much  wolf_z | 10/04/06
Microsoft prays for "exploits" this benign!  Userama | 10/03/06
Never mind the facts - I'm a Mac user  TonyMcS | 10/03/06
Ah but the real quesion is can one be MORE secure?  Laff | 10/03/06
who cares...  doctorSpoc | 10/03/06
Hilarious!!  NonZealot | 10/03/06
Sounds like a...  Rick_K | 10/04/06
Security is only relative  ken_ballard@... | 10/04/06
Only to a certain degree  NonZealot | 10/03/06
Nope choice is fine by me...  Laff | 10/04/06
Try building a custom Mac from scratch  ken_ballard@... | 10/04/06
Of course you can.  peterlav | 11/20/06
Problem at Zdnet is  Boot_Agnostic | 10/04/06
And with 10 seconds of "s/w Update" time from the Finder menu  Dr_T | 10/03/06
Local root exploit? I'm sure there's a number of them.  Resuna | 10/04/06

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