Apple Snow Leopard Update Installs Flash Security Hole [Downgrades Adobe Flash Player Plug-In From 10.0.32.18 to Less Secure 10.0.23.1]

What is it with Apple and their use of big-cat names on their operating systems? We get it. They sound tough. They sound imposing. Snow Leopard sounds a lot more intimidating then Scottish Fold. Maybe they can move away from predatory cats and start with fish. I can see it now, “Apple Releases OS 11 Mackerel.” OK, maybe that’s a bit of wishful thinking. What isn’t wishful thinking is having an OS upgrade for what is arguably the best OS on the planet that won’t leave your system standing there with its pants down asking to be violated. That’s just what the latest update for Mac OS X Snow Leopard did and you may not even realize where the breeze is coming from.

OK, so maybe my warnings are a bit reactionary. But we can never be too careful, right? As it just so happens, the just-released upgrade for Mac OS X comes with a little extra. It actually downgrades your system’s Flash Player to an earlier, less secure version. It has been noted by others who have recently installed the upgrade that this change is something you won’t even notice as your CD whirs away in your drive. After the install you’ll be left with an old version of the Flash Player (10.0.23.1) rather than the latest version (10.0.32.18). So what’s the big deal? Well, the older version lacks recent patches for a variety of security vulnerabilities leaving your virtual fly down.

So that you know this is a real issue, Adobe is talking about the problem on its official blog. You even get a link to the latest Flash Player download. How generous of them. To see which version of the Flash Player you are using, Click Help/Installed Plug-ins on Safari, or Tools/Add-ons/Plug-ins in Firefox. If that’s too much for you to handle, and you know who you are, can also just head on over to www.adobe.com.

Snow Leopard, or Mac OS X 10.6 as some like to call it, landed on shelves last Friday. It was apparently ahead of schedule. Makes you wonder if they had just waited to release it on time…you can never have enough pre-release checks, right?