Apple's iPhone gets first patch

LAS VEGAS -- Apple released three patches on Tuesday to fix numerous vulnerabilities in its Mac OS X operating system, the beta version of its Safari browser for Windows and its sleek foray into the mobile market, the iPhone.

The patch for the iPhone comes two days before a presentation at the Black Hat Security Briefings by Charles Miller, a researcher with Independent Security Evaluators, which promises to reveal details of a serious flaw in the mobile phone's stripped-down browser. The patch fixes that flaw and four others.

The two other patches close at least 45 flaws in the consumer technology maker's Mac OS X operating system as well as four vulnerabilities in the latest beta of Apple's Safari browser for the Windows operating system. The list of Mac OS X flaws fixed by the update includes nine vulnerabilities in the processor for the dynamic Web language, PHP, and seven security issues in the SquirrelMail Web mail application.

The flaw found by Independent Security Evaluators affects the Safari browser on the Mac OS X and Windows as well as the MobileSafari browser on the iPhone.

Posted by: Robert Lemos