Archive | September 29, 2014

Upgrade Bash via Homebrew for OS X

As this was posted, Apple had not yet released a security patch to update the version of Bash so lets look at upgrading Bash via Homebrew instead.

Homebrew is a package manager, similar to apt or yum, which allows Mac users to install open-source packages from the command line. To install, paste this line into your Terminal.

ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

Then, run:

brew doctor
brew update

And type:

brew install bash
sudo sh -c 'echo "/usr/local/bin/bash" >> /etc/shells'
chsh -s /usr/local/bin/bash
sudo mv /bin/bash /bin/bash-backup
sudo ln -s /usr/local/bin/bash /bin/bash
which bash
bash --version

You will need to restart your Terminal/iTerm and confirm the version:

exit
which bash
bash --version

If desired change the rights of the moved backup file:

sudo chmod a-x /bin/bash-backup

Don’t forget to run the test code to confirm your Bash is patched.
[Exploit 1] [Exploit 2] [Exploit 3]

Update 09/29/2014: If you didn’t patch the bug manually, you can download and install Apple’s patch for OS X Mavericks here.

Update 09/30/2014: he updates are available for the other OS X versions:

The version after applying this update will be:

  • OS X Mavericks:  GNU bash, version 3.2.53(1)-release (x86_64-apple-darwin13)
  • OS X Mountain Lion:  GNU bash, version 3.2.53(1)-release (x86_64-apple-darwin12)
  • OS X Lion:  GNU bash, version 3.2.53(1)-release (x86_64-apple-darwin11)
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