Apple has updated Safari to version 5.1.4, patching 83 vulnerabilities.

72 of these vulnerabilities could "lead to ... arbitrary code execution", according to the company, underlining their severity. These were patched in WebKit, the open-source browser engine that powers both Safari and Google's Chrome. Apple tagged them all as memory corruption bugs that could be triggered simply by visiting a malicious site.

Besides the security patches, Apple also addressed a number of other performance, stability and compatibility issues.

Top on the list for users running Safari in Lion was an increase in JavaScript performance. Another Lion-specific fix dealt with incomplete Flash content when using gestures. Other bug fixes addressed screen dimming while watching HTML5 video, sluggish browser startup and flashing Web pages when switching between Safari windows.

Safari can be downloaded from Apple's website for Snow Leopard or Lion on a Mac, and for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 on a PC.