Have Apple announced whether the "Shellshock" bash update will be applied automatically via the App Store patching mechanism?

Solution 1:

Will this update (eventually) be applied automatically via the App Store, or do I have to apply it manually?

As I explain in my answer on the question you link to, Apple has released patches you can download & run yourself. You do not have too compile from source or be deeply technically capable to run them. Just download the one appropriate for your machine, run the installer & that’s it:

• OS X bash Update 1.0 – OS X Mavericks
• OS X bash Update 1.0 – OS X Mountain Lion
• OS X bash Update 1.0 - OS X Lion

And while not directly available via the software update system provided in the App Store, running this patch is one of the simplest Mac OS X patches I have ever run. It takes about a minute of your time, an admin password & there is no need to reboot.

UPDATE: Look, I just saw a pig fly!

Note: Security Update 2014-005 includes the security content of OS X bash Update 1.0