Another Mac OS X trojan has apparently surfaced. The trojan is called OSX.Exploit.Launchd and exploits a newly-found flaw in launchd, a program which is an important part of Mac OS X’s startup process.

If the trojan is successful, a malicious hacker could get full administrator (root) access to an infected Mac OS X system. Apple’s new 10.4.7 software update fixes this vulnerability (among others), so any Mac users reading this, update as soon as possible.

What is interesting is that the amount of malware for the Macintosh platform seems to be increasing. Despite its relatively small market share, the Mac OS is becoming more and more of a target; this trojan being the second exploit for OS X this year.

What will remain to be seen is that if the number of exploits does continue to increase, will Mac OS X’s secure Unix foundation actually give more resiliance against this type of malware? Lack of malware certainly is one of Apple’s selling points (as you can see in their Get A Mac campaign), but will it remain that way?

[via]