Anti-virus on Mac OS X— Vulnerabilities

I reported on Final Cut Studio dropped frames due to anti-virus software a few days ago. I stated then:

A video editing or sound editing workstation sensitive to real-time processing should be configured with the bare essentials to get the job done.

In fact, any professional system should always be configured with the minimum software to get the job done.

When anti-virus creates new issues

Here’s an ironic example of how anti-virus software can actually introduce new vulnerabilities (any software can).

Apple’s Mac OS X 10.6.7 anti-virus ClamAV update states:

ClamAV
Available for: Mac OS X Server v10.5.8, Mac OS X Server v10.6.6
Impact: Multiple vulnerabilities in ClamAV

Description: Multiple vulnerabilities exist in ClamAV, the most serious of which may lead to arbitrary code execution. This update addresses the issues by updating ClamAV to version 0.96.5. ClamAV is distributed only with Mac OS X Server systems. Further information is available via the ClamAV website at http://www.clamav.net/
CVE-ID
CVE-2010-0405
CVE-2010-3434
CVE-2010-4260
CVE-2010-4261
CVE-2010-4479