Apple Patches 17 Bugs In Mac OS X

Apple Computer on Thursday posted security updates for client and server editions of its Mac OS X that fix 17 vulnerabilities, the second patch in the last five weeks.

The flaws range from several in the open-source Apache Web server that's included with the operating system, to bugs in the bundled Safari Web browser that can be used by hackers to disguise bogus URLs and spoof dialog boxes.

Although Apple doesn't note the severity of vulnerabilities--as does Microsoft, for instance--security firm Secunia, which also posted an advisory detailing the problems and fixes, labeled it as "highly critical," suggesting it should be patched as soon as possible.

This fix comes little more than a month after the last security update to Apple's operating system.

Patches can be downloaded from Apple's support Web site.