10.8.5 and Safari cannot access local file system via signed applet

[Patrick Flaherty]

Hi,

Since I received all the latest updates on Mac OSX 10.8.5 along with  
Java 1.7.25, signed applets run from Safari (6.1) cannot access the  
local file system. If the applet is called via
Firefox I can access the local file system as I always have been as  
long as the applet is signed. I added the permissions and codebase  
tags to the jar manifest thinking that may be causing the issue. The  
manifest change got rid of the console massages about the permission  
and codebase but no change with the file system. Basically when  
JFileChooser is called all my folders and volumes have a red circle  
indicating no access.

Same on OSX 10.9 with Safari 7.0 !

Anyone understand why this is?

Thanks
Pat