#Java for mac os x 10.6 update

On machines that have Java installed, Java was disabled after Apple’s security updates. Part of Apple’s response to Flashback involved an additional layer of security with respect to Java: disabling it.

#Java for mac os x 10.6 update

Apple eventually managed to get a Java update out, but not until Flashback had infected more than 600,000 Macs and made international headlines. Lion users were safe unless they had installed Java, while all Snow Leopard users were fully vulnerable.

All users of the versions of Java supplied by Apple were vulnerable. Unfortunately, they acted too late, and in February of 2012, a new variant of the Flashback malware appeared that relied on Java vulnerabilities. By handing sole responsibility for updates of Java 7 (and up) in the future to Oracle, and by removing Java as a part of the system in Lion and up, Apple increased the security of Mac OS X.

Java has suffered from serious security vulnerabilities from time to time, and Apple has always been responsible for Java updates on the Mac, and those updates have typically been released at a bit of a delay after they are available to other systems. Apple’s reasons for doing this are many, but one of them may have been security. That strategy involved, among other things, no longer including Java as a part of the system by default, as Apple had done in Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and earlier. Apple has, for some time now, been trying to distance itself from Java. However, before you fix it, you need to ask yourself an important question: “ Should I fix it?”Ī little background is important in understanding why these changes have been made. Fortunately, the problem is easily fixed. This is causing a great deal of confusion, and even some hard feelings, especially amongst those who have upgraded from older systems where Java worked just fine. Many people using the latest versions of Mac OS X (10.7, aka Lion, and 10.8, aka Mountain Lion) have had problems getting Java applets to run. August 6th, 2012 at 4:33 PM EDT, modified