October 15, 2009 by
Jason
On October 13th, 2009, Microsoft started serving to Windows users patches for no less than 34 vulnerabilities, releasing the most security bulletins in the company’s history. The 13 security bulletins made available are designed to offer fixes for a range of security issues affecting Windows, Internet Explorer, Silverlight, Microsoft Office, Developer Tools, Forefront and SQL Server. Microsoft underlined that, despite the large number of patches, all security updates had been thoroughly tested, and only received the green light for broad release once they met specific quality standards.
Out of the total 13 security bulletins released, eight have received Microsoft’s maximum severity rating, namely Critical, indicating that they are designed to patch severe vulnerabilities that could allow for remote code execution in the eventuality of a successful attack. The remaining six patch packages have all been deemed Important, a less severe rating. However, customers should apply the patches offered by the Redmond company immediately. The simplest way to access the security updates is through Windows Update. Users with Automatic Updates enabled will have all patches automatically downloaded to their machines.
Microsoft revealed that no less than seven security bulletins with a maximum severity rating of Critical out of the total eight also had an exploitability index of 1. The highest possible exploitability index: 1 is indicative of the fact that Microsoft considers the possibility of exploit code becoming available in the wild for the seven flaws extremely likely, perhaps even within the first 30 days since the patches were released. This just in case you needed additional incentive to deploy the security updates. Read More»
Posted in Computer | 1 Comment »
December 11, 2008 by
Jason On December 9, Microsoft made available for download the last bouquet of security updates for 2008. the company released no less than eight security bulletins, six of them Critical and two rated as Important. Hot on the heels of the last round of patches for the year hitting Windows Update, the December 2008 Security Release ISO Image went live on the Microsoft Download Center. Via the Security Release ISO Image for the current month, the software giant is providing a single package for all the security updates designed for its Windows client and server operating systems, including Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows XP Service Pack 3.
“As far as vulnerability counts go, this is the largest patch release since Microsoft started the ‘Patch Tuesday’ program back in late 2003. The release contains eight bulletins covering 28 vulnerabilities,” Symantec’s Robert Keith revealed.
“Of those issues, 23 are rated ‘Critical’ and affect Word, Outlook, Internet Explorer, Visual Basic ActiveX controls, GDI, Windows Search, and Excel. All of the ‘Critical’ issues this month require some sort of user interaction, whether visiting a Web page that contains malicious content or viewing a malicious file. The remaining issues affect GDI, Windows Search, SharePoint, and Windows Explorer; they range in importance from ‘Important’ to ‘Moderate.’” Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista, Windows XP | 1 Comment »
November 18, 2008 by
Jason The exploit for a vulnerability affecting the Server Service on all supported versions of Windows has been included in a commercial malware kit, available for sale. MS08-067 is labeled with a maximum severity rating of Critical, and the security bulletin is designed to patch vulnerable Windows operating systems, which could allow for remote code execution via a successful attack involving a specially crafted, malicious RPC request. The vulnerability affects the latest Windows client and server operating systems, including Windows 7, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows XP Service Pack 3.
“Probably the most widely reported topic in the Chinese Security community this month will be the availability of a commercial MS08-067 attack pack, customized for Chinese users. On October 26th, 2008, exploit code was posted on to a well-known public repository site. In a few days, malware kit author, WolfTeeth, was quick to sell a MS08-067 port scanning tool with attack capability to his ‘customers,’ using free code from the Internet,” revealed Haowei Ren and Geok Meng Ong, from the McAfee Avert Labs.
The security issue is rated Critical on Windows Server 2004, Windows XP (including SP3), and Windows Server 2003, and just Important on Windows Vista (SP1) and Windows Server 2008. Microsoft made available MS08-067 as an out-of-band release in October 2008. During the same month the company issued the first security patch for Windows 7, designed for the pre-Beta Build 6801 Milestone 3 release. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | No Comments »
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