Apple Releases AirPort Security Fix

Apple Inc. has published a firmware update for its Airport Extreme Base Station that fixes two security flaws in the Wi-Fi router.

The patch fixes a bug found in certain versions of the Base Station that prevented the router from acting as a firewall by blocking IPv6 traffic by default. "This may expose network services on hosts connected through an AirPort Extreme Base Station with 802.11n to remote attacks," Apple said in a Monday advisory.

Both of the bugs, patched in version 7.1 of the product's firmware, affect only the 802.11n versions of the router, Apple said.

The second Base Station flaw could let an attacker view filenames -- but not file contents -- on a password-protected USB hard drive connected to the Base Station via the AirPort Disk feature.

Apple recommends that users download the latest version of the AirPort software on their computers before installing the router's firmware update. Windows and Mac versions of the latest Base Station updates can be found here.