Michael Lehn has discovered a vulnerability in Mac OS X, which can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user's system.

The vulnerability is caused due to an error in the processing of file association meta data in ZIP archives (stored in the "__MACOSX" folder) and mail messages (defined via the AppleDouble MIME format). This can be exploited to trick users into executing a malicious shell script renamed to a safe file extension stored in a ZIP archive or in a mail attachment.

This can also be exploited automatically via the Safari browser when visiting a malicious web site.

Secunia has constructed a test, which can be used to check if your system is affected by this issue:
http://secunia.com/mac_os_x_command_execution_vulnerability_test/

The vulnerability has been confirmed on a fully patched system with Safari 2.0.3 (417.8), Mail 2.0.5 (746/746.2), and Mac OS X 10.4.5.

Solution
Apply Security Update 2006-002.
Further details available to Secunia VIM customers

Provided and/or discovered by
Michael Lehn

Changelog
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Other references
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