Mac OS X probably vulnerable too

Security researchers have outlined a way to hijack huge amounts of confidential network traffic by exploiting default behavior in Microsoft's Windows operating system.

The MITM, or man-in-the-middle, attacks described on Monday take advantage of features added to recent versions of Windows that make it easy for computers to connect to networks using the next generation IPv6 protocol. The attack will also work against Apple's OS X for Macs, although the proof-of-concept has not been tested on that platform, said Jack Koziol, a program manager at InfoSec Institute, an information security services company.

The attack exploits an industry standard known as SLAAC, or Stateless Address Auto Configuration for allowing clients and hosts to find each other on IPv6 networks. When the next-generation addressing scheme is turned on, as it is by default in OS X, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Server 2008, SLAAC can be used to create an unauthorized IPv6 network that reroutes data through hardware controlled by the attackers.

...By default, Linux, FreeBSD and other operating systems aren't vulnerable, Koziol said....

Therefore to be vulnerable to this, you already have to have a compromised machine inside your home LAN; either a piece of hardware or a PC running a 'nasty' IPV6 router. In short, if you're vulnerable to this at home you're probably already stuffed anyway.

The attack method described would require that a would-be attacker have physical access to the targeted network in order to install a tainted router - a situation that does not provide a security boundary.

If a bad guy is inside your house plugging stuff into your network, then you might say the security problem lays with your house rather than your computer.