Apple has inadvertently opened the Mac to malware exploitation through Dashboard. Shortly after the release of Mac OS X Tiger, one developer claims he has already found a way to turn widgets into potentially malicious software.

Developers have successfully produced widgets that can hijack browsers and run full user access without the user's express permission.

The main vulnerability exists owing to the auto-install nature of widgets and the inability to remove widgets in the original release of Dashboard. In light of this, its best to take this caveat to heart before deciding to download widgets from sites other than Apple's download site.

Affected users can kill widgets by removing them from their Library folder and using Activity Monitor kill any instance of a malicious widget already running.

Read the full report at C|Net News.