Mozilla released an update to its Firefox web browser Thursday that fixes several security flaws and adds support for Macintosh with Intel Core processors.

The Firefox version 1.5.0.2 provides native support for Macs with Intel processors. It will be pushed out to users of Firefox 1.5 over the next two days, Mozilla, said on its web site. In addition to security patches, Firefox includes some stability enhancements.

"We're identifying this as a critical release, and we're strongly recommending that everyone update as soon as possible," Mike Schroepfer, vice president of engineering at Mozilla, said in a statement. "This is one of the most stable releases we have ever delivered. It proactively addresses a wide range of security, performance and stability issues we have identified, using the very latest tools and techniques," he said.

Specific information about the security holes was not immediately available on Thursday afternoon, but will be released shortly, a Mozilla representative said. The Firefox update comes two days after Microsoft released a "critical" megapatch for the rival Internet Explorer browser, fixing 10 vulnerabilities.

Apple released the first Macs with Intel chips in January, and Mozilla originally said it had scheduled a March release of Firefox for those machines.

Mozilla also released Firefox 1.0.8 a security and stability release for Firefox 1.0. Mozilla recommends that Firefox 1.0 users upgrade to this latest release of Firefox 1.5, it said on its web site. The 1.5 version, released in November, includes an automated update mechanism to help people keep their systems up-to-date.