Google's Project Zero has discovered three high-risk vulnerabilities on Apple's OS X operating system, Digital Spy reports.

The flaws enable an attacker to take over a machine, but only if they already have access to it.

Apple was informed of the vulnerabilities back in October, but as per Project Zero's 90-day policy, they were revealed publicly this week.

According to iMore, the bugs won't be around for long, with a forthcoming OS X 10.10.2 update rectifying the problems.

Project Zero was recently criticised by Microsoft's security chief Chris Betz for exposing flaws on Windows, describing their approach as feeling "less like principles and more like a 'gotcha'".

The vulnerabilities found on Windows 7 and 8.1 allowed attackers to impersonate a user as well as decrypt and encrypt data.