Apple rolled out software on Monday to fix the newly discovered "Shellshock" or "Bash" bug that could leave Macs open to dangerous cyberattacks.
Security researchers at Red Hat uncovered the bug on September 24. Shellshock is also known as the "Bash bug" because the problem is found in the Bash shell, software that is used to control the command prompt on many Unix-based operating systems like Linux and Apple's OS X for Mac. Hackers can potentially exploit the bug to launch several types of attacks, and even take complete control of a user's computer.
Apple's software patches are now available for Mac operating systems Mavericks, Mountain Lion and Lion, four days after the company promised to release a fix. But at that time Apple said in a statement that most of its users aren't affected, as OS X's "systems are safe by default and not exposed to remote exploits of Bash" -- unless users have actively turned on advanced Unix services. Other companies including Amazon and Google have issued warnings, and the firm Kaspersky Labs reported Friday it has already identified Bash-related attacks.
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