Firefox Upgrade Available
Firefox released 3.6 today with a few notable improvements.
- Changes were made that prevent other programs from adding their own toolbar to Firefox without your permission.
- Firefox 3.6 will alert you about out of date and insecure plugins.
- Private browsing also removes TEMP files
The full details can be found at http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Upgrading+to+Firefox+3.6 and the upgrade can be downloaded from http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/upgrade.html
Thanks to Jason and Gilbert for letting us know.
Christopher Carboni - Handler On Duty
Microsoft January Out of Band Patch
Overview of the Out of band January 2010 Microsoft patch and status.
| # | Affected | Contra Indications | Known Exploits | Microsoft rating | ISC rating(*) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| clients | servers | |||||
| MS10-002 | Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer. Replaces MS09-072 | |||||
| Internet Explorer CVE-2009-4074 CVE-2010-0027 CVE-2009-0244 CVE-2009-0245 CVE-2009-0246 CVE-2009-0247 CVE-2009-0248 CVE-2009-0249 |
KB 978207 | exploit known and in public use | Severity: Critical Exploitability: Exploit Available |
PATCH NOW! | Important | |
We appreciate updates
US based customers can call Microsoft for free patch related support on 1-866-PCSAFETY
- We use 4 levels:
- PATCH NOW: Typically used where we see immediate danger of exploitation. Typical environments will want to deploy these patches ASAP. Workarounds are typically not accepted by users or are not possible. This rating is often used when typical deployments make it vulnerable and exploits are being used or easy to obtain or make.
- Critical: Anything that needs little to become "interesting" for the dark side. Best approach is to test and deploy ASAP. Workarounds can give more time to test.
- Important: Things where more testing and other measures can help.
- Less Urgent: Typically we expect the impact if left unpatched to be not that big a deal in the short term. Do not forget them however.
- The difference between the client and server rating is based on how you use the affected machine. We take into account the typical client and server deployment in the usage of the machine and the common measures people typically have in place already. Measures we presume are simple best practices for servers such as not using outlook, MSIE, word etc. to do traditional office or leisure work.
- The rating is not a risk analysis as such. It is a rating of importance of the vulnerability and the perceived or even predicted threat for affected systems. The rating does not account for the number of affected systems there are. It is for an affected system in a typical worst-case role.
- Only the organization itself is in a position to do a full risk analysis involving the presence (or lack of) affected systems, the actually implemented measures, the impact on their operation and the value of the assets involved.
- All patches released by a vendor are important enough to have a close look if you use the affected systems. There is little incentive for vendors to publicize patches that do not have some form of risk to them
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Johannes B. Ullrich, Ph.D.
SANS Technology Institute
Twitter
* Microsoft Out Of Band Patch Release
Microsoft released the out of band security bulletin and patch it announced yesterday. MS10-002 is a cumulative patch for Internet Explorer. It fixes a total of 8 vulnerabilities. The "famous" vulnerability that triggered the release, CVE-2010-0249, is currently being exploited. According to the bulletin, none of the other vulnerabilities are currently being exploited and all had been disclosed to Microsoft directly without any prior public disclosure.
Given the number of ever improving exploits against CVE-2010-0249, and the publicly known use of these exploits, we recommend that you patch as soon as possible.
Security Update Available for Shockwave Player
Rex and Chris (thank guys!) wrote in to tell us that Adobe has released a security update for Shockwave Player for 11.5.2.602 and earlier versions for Windows and Macintosh
Full details are available on the Adobe support site at www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb10-03.html
Christopher Carboni - Handler On Duty
New Microsoft Advisory: Vulnerability in Windows Kernel Privilege Escalation (CVE-2010-0232)
Yesterday, we reported about a new Windows Kernel vulnerability [1] . The vulnerability affects all versions of Windows (NT 3.51 up to Windows 7) unless 16-bit application support is disabled. If exploited, the vulnerability will lead to privilege escalation.
Today, Microsoft released an official response in the form of a Security Advisory [2]. The advisory (KB Article 979682) states that Microsoft is investigating the report, and is not aware of any use of the vulnerability in current exploits.
According to Microsoft's list of vulnerable and non-vulnerable systems, 64 bit version of the Windows OS are not vulnerable, but 32 bit versions are. In part this is due to the fact that 64 bit versions of Windows do not include the vulnerable feature (16 bit compatibility).
The workaround outlined by Microsoft matches the workaround proposed in the advisory: Disable access to 16 bit applications. This should work well for the vast majority of systems. But be aware that there is a reason for this feature: Some old (very old) applications do require 16 bit support. This may in particular affect old custom software and support for odd hardware configurations. A standard office desktop should not require any 16 bit applications. As always: Test first.
The CVE number CVE-2010-0232 has been assigned to this issue [3].
[1] http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=8023
[2] http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/979682.mspx
[3] http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/detail?vulnId=CVE-2010-0232 (not live yet as of this writing)
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Johannes B. Ullrich, Ph.D.
SANS Technology Institute
Twitter
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