According to our good friends at TenFourFox and numerous other tech sites around the world, BASH, that great little command line shell built into Mac OS X, has a major security vulnerability.
More bad news – since Leopard, Tiger, etc are so old, the hope of seeing an official patch of this vulnerability are next to nil.
But now the good news – there is a (unofficial) fix. TenFourFox to the rescue! Follow the instructions to download a patched BASH and replace your existing shell with the updated one. It’s a straightforward process that includes some example commands to make sure you are indeed affected and patched.
This is just another reminder of why our old machines are not getting more secure. Other bugs and vulnerabilities may indeed exist. If your machine faces outward, serving webpages, files, or whatever, keep in mind that you are operating at risk. This doesn’t mean you will be hacked, but it’s something to keep in mind and stay vigilant about.
– Nathan