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Safari matches rivals with sandboxed Flash for better security

On OS X 10.9 Mavericks, Apple's browser now puts limits on what Adobe's Flash Player can do, making it harder for malware authors to run rampant on people's Macs.

Stephen Shankland Former Principal Writer
Stephen Shankland worked at CNET from 1998 to 2024 and wrote about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
Expertise Processors, semiconductors, web browsers, quantum computing, supercomputers, AI, 3D printing, drones, computer science, physics, programming, materials science, USB, UWB, Android, digital photography, science. Credentials
  • Shankland covered the tech industry for more than 25 years and was a science writer for five years before that. He has deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and more.
Stephen Shankland
Safari browser

Catching Safari up to Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome, Adobe Systems has put its Flash Player plug-in into a sandbox for better security protection on Apple's browser, too.

"With this week's release of Safari in OS X Mavericks, Flash Player will now be protected by an OS X App Sandbox," Adobe platform security strategist Peleus Uhley said Wednesday in a blog post.

Sandboxing restricts the privileges that software gets, for example prohibiting it from writing to a storage device or tampering with data in memory held by another program. Such limits make it harder for malware authors to extend an attack from the browser to a position of more power.

"Safari users on OS X Mavericks can view Flash Player content while benefiting from these added security protections," Uhley said. "We'd like to thank the Apple security team for working with us to deliver this solution."