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OS X vulnerability: hackers getting superuser access

31 Aug 2013 News
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OS X vulnerability: hackers getting superuser access

This week hasn’t been the best for Apple on the security front. Metasploit is a program that is designed to test security of operating systems by making is easier for people to abuse vulnerabilities. The developers of Metasploit have reported that there is a new Unix Sudo vulnerability that they’ve added to their software. OS X is running Unix so this makes the operating system vulnerable.

Sudo is a service in Unix operating systems that gives normal users administrator privileges without them having to be an administrator. The system controls this by requiring a password for it and limits the users with access to sudo. It’s well-used by network administrators and is far more secure than simply using an administrator account constantly.

The attack involves using the sudo command then resetting the date of the computer to the 1st of January 1970. It’s the beginning of time for computers and is used by most Unix programs to deal with dates. Once this is done it’ll then allow root access without a password.

Apple has yet to comment on the problem but it’s likely that there will be an update to fix the issue soon; it’s a huge security breach.

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matt

Matt is a technology enthusiast, particularly surrounding smartphones and Apple products. Living in the UK, Matt passionately follows all of the latest news on Apple from across the globe.