Hands-On Report--Apple Released Mac OS X 10.4.3 Update

Apple released a new update, v10.4.3 (Build 8F46), to the client and server editions of Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger." The update is available via the Software Update application or as a standalone download, either as delta or combo files. We recommend using the combo files that are available from these Apple Web pages for the client or server editions. According to the client Read Me file,

The 10.4.3 Update delivers overall improved reliability and compatibility for Mac OS X v10.4 and is recommended for all users.

It includes fixes for:

- AFP, SMB/CIFS, NFS and FTP network file services
- AirPort and Bluetooth wireless access
- Core Graphics, Core Audio, Core Image, and RAW camera support
- disc recording when creating and burning media
- .Mac sync services
- Spotlight indexing and searching
- Dashboard widgets: Dictionary, Flight Tracker, Stickies, and Unit Converter
- Address Book, AppleScript, Automator, Dictionary, Font Book, iCal, iSync, Mail, and Safari applications
- Disk Utility, Keychain Access, Migration Assistant, and Software Update
- compatibility with third party applications and devices
- previous standalone security updates

Here are the details on the included security updates:

Finder--CVE-ID: CVE-2005-2749
Impact: File ownership information may be misleading
Description: Under certain situations, the file and group ownership
information displayed in the Finder Get Info window may not be
correct. This update addresses the issue by synchronizing the
displayed ownership with the actual ownership in all situations.
This issue does not affect systems prior to Mac OS X v10.4.

Software Update--CVE-ID: CVE-2005-2750
Impact: Important Software Updates may not install
Description: Software Update can be instructed by the user to
ignore specific updates. If all applicable updates have been marked
in this way, Software Update will exit without providing an an
opportunity to reset the status of these updates so that they may
be installed. This update addresses the issue by asking whether the
ignored updates list should be reset when this situation is
encountered. This issue does not affect systems prior to Mac OS X
v10.4.

memberd--CVE-ID: CVE-2005-2751
Impact: Changes to group membership are delayed for hours
Description: In certain situations, changes to a group's membership
may not be immediately reflected in access control checks. This may
result in an authenticated user being able to access files or other
resources even after they have been removed from a group. This
update addresses the issue by invalidating the group membership
cache at appropriate times. This issue does not affect systems
prior to Mac OS X v10.4.

Keychain--CVE-ID: CVE-2005-2739
Impact: Keychain Access will continue displaying plaintext
passwords after lock timeout
Description: Keychain Access is a utility distributed with Mac OS X
that is used to view keychain items and change keychain settings.
If a keychain automatically locks due to a timeout while viewing a
password stored inside it, that password will remain visible. This
update patches Keychain Access so that passwords are hidden when
keychains lock. This issue does not affect systems prior to Mac OS
X v10.4. Credit to Eric Hall of DarkArt Consulting Services for
reporting this issue.

Kernel--CVE-ID: CVE-2005-1126, CVE-2005-1406, CVE-2005-2752
Impact: Kernel memory may be disclosed to local users
Description: Certain kernel interfaces may return data that
includes sensitive information in uninitialized memory. These
issues affect Mac OS X v10.4.2 and earlier. Credit to Ilja van
Sprundel and Neil Archibald of Suresec LTD, and Colin Percival of
the FreeBSD team for reporting these issues.

We downloaded and installed 10.4.3 Update from the Software Update application and from the standalone file on several Power Mac G5s, Power Mac G4 Cubes, iMac G5s and PowerBook G4s. The size of the update via SU varied by about 40 MB among computers. It ranged from 56.8MB on a 12" 867MHz PowerBook G4, 450MHz Power Mac G4 Cube, 1.25GHz Mac mini, dual 2.5GHz PowerMac G5 and Rev. A 20" iMac G5 to 97.0MB on a 17" 1.67GHz PowerBook G4 and Rev. B iMac G5.

On thing we noticed right off is that the first restart after installation took an abnormally long time at the white screen with gray Apple logo and spinnning "gear" with attendant hard drive activity. It caused our computers with fans, i.e. PowerBook G4, Power Mac G5 and iMac G5, to run a full blast for awhile and took so long that we almost forced a shutdown on the first updated Mac thinking it had crashed.

There are many improvements in 10.4.3--Apple lists them on this Web page. Among them are fixes for a few issues that we have encountered:

• Spotlight comments entered in the Finder are now preserved when using iDisk syncing.
• Addresses some issues in which the Finder might not be able to connect to an SMB volume.
• Allows your Address Book contacts that are organized in subgroups to be synced to an iPod using iTunes.
• Addresses an issue in which some Mail rules could be lost or duplicated after a .Mac sync.
• .Mac members can enable encrypted iChat sessions.
• Disk Utility can now verify the Mac OS X 10.4.x startup volume.
• Improves compatibility with Microsoft Intellipoint software.
• Fixes an issue with Microsoft Word and Excel 2004 where they could stop responding for several seconds.
• Apple Wireless Keyboards now work in single-user mode.
• Quartz 2D Extreme is disabled.

The last one is odd. Quartz 2D Extreme was once touted as a new Tiger technology but it was never enabled. However, Quartz 2D Extreme could be enabled using a developer tool and it still can be in 10.4.3.

So far we've not encountered any new issues with moderate use since about 6pm ET yesterday. [Bill Fox & Dana Baggett]