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What is the task “java” (parent process “launchd”) doing on MacOS X?
When I open up my activity monitor, I have three (currently sometimes less or more) processes called "java" taking up on average 1.6% CPU each with 35 threads each. I've read flashback runs through java, could this possibly be it? There are no other applications running other than activity monitor. Thanks
Depending on whether you run OS X Lion or Snow Leopard, download these updates if you haven't:
These will automatically remove all variants of the Flashback malware on your Mac. If that worked, hooray, nothing to worry about.
If that didn't stop the processes, you have several options. You could, first of all, disable Java altogether by opening Applications/Utilities/Java Preferences.app and deselecting all versions of the Java VM. In my experience, you often won't need Java anyway.
If you don't want to do that, you can try to narrow down which process called the Java processes. Open up a terminal and enter:
ps auwwx | grep java | grep -v grep
If there's anything listed, check the corresponding user and the command line (in the last column). Do you notice anything unusual?
From that command line, you should be able to identify the source of these processes. Then, it's just a matter of either uninstalling that particular program or letting it run (in case it's any vital process you just forgot about).
An update to what @slhck wrote...
Java is the vector, not the payload. Meaning it gets in through java, but it doesn't live there. Think of java as the door, but when it breaks in, it rummages through your bedroom drawers, it doesn't wait in the doorway. The hole in java is how they get in, but once they get in, they download a binary and the binary is the actual malware. From what I saw, it drops things into your system to override your browser settings and some read/write routines.
As @shlck says, disable java, you don't need it. Java's had a lot of attacks recently, and not worth having on your system. If for some reason your system thinks you need java, it will prompt you to download it.
As far as why java is running, it could be a valid background process. My HP printer sets up a Tomcat application server to configure the printer settings, this is java. It's conceivable that other hardware on your system does the same thing - has a webapp for settings.
FWIW, IMHO:
