Danish security firm Secunia has reported that bugs in open-source code, such as Red Hat Linux and the Firefox browser, were way above those in Microsoft’s products last year.

An excerpt from TechWorld:

Out of the operating systems monitored by Secunia – Windows (98 and onwards), Mac OS X, HP-UX 10.x and 11.x, Solaris 8, 9, and 10 and Red Hat (excluding Fedora) – Red Hat was found to have by far the most vulnerabilities, at 633, with 99 percent found in third-party components. (Linux distributions are generally composed mostly of third-party software, which is integrated by the distributor.)

In the browser field, Firefox led the way with 64 bugs, compared to 43 for Internet Explorer, and 14 each for Opera and Safari.

The figures are contended by Red Hat. However, the more relevant fact is the pace at which the reported bugs are fixed, and it is here that perhaps Microsoft can take a few points from open-source books.

Secunia reported several vulnerabilities in CA’s products as well.

On a larger note, is the discovery of more bugs in open source going to hamper its adoption?

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