Only a few days after the OS X 10.5.8 software update on August 6th, Apple today released a security update for its BIND DNS service. The timing of this security patch is an indication of its importance as there have been exploits reported in the wild.

While most mac users don’t use their Macs as DNS servers (thereby not having to worry about this exploit), it never hurts to be patched.

According to Apple’s knowledge base article on the topic, a remote attacker may be able to cause the DNS server to unexpectedly terminate.

Here is how Apple Puts this :

Description: A logic issue in the handling of dynamic DNS update messages may cause an assertion to be triggered. By sending a maliciously crafted update message to the BIND DNS server, a remote attacker may be able to interrupt the BIND service. The issue affects servers which are masters for one or more zones, regardless of whether they accept updates. BIND is included with Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server but it is not enabled by default. This update addresses the issue by properly rejecting messages with a record of type ‘ANY’ where an assertion would previously have been raised.