Microsoft Downplays Stealth Update Concerns
632816
Calls concerns over undercover updates to Windows XP and Windows Vista a tempest in a teapot.
416384
Microsoft Corp. released two security fixes Tuesday that carry its most severe threat rating, including one that applies even to computers that have downloaded the company's massive security update for the Windows XP operating system.
102362
(InfoWorld) - September's batch of Microsoft security patches was trimmed Friday as Microsoft announced that a planned update to its SharePoint collaboration software would not be released this month. The update was to fix an elevation of privilege flaw, which had been rated "important" by Microsoft. This type of flaw can be used to give attackers access to Windows resources that would otherwise be blocked off. Microsoft, which declined to comment further on the matter, did not say when -- or if -- it would patch the bug. The flaw affects Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 on Windows Server 2003 and Office SharePoint Server 2007. The company also wouldn't say why it had suddenly decided to pull the patch, but it is not unheard of for Microsoft to pull an update at the last minute because of quality concerns. Microsoft's security updates go through a rigorous testing process to ensure that they don't harm other Windows programs. According to security vendor McAfee, the delay may give attackers another month to exploit a known SharePoint vulnerability . "There is a yet-to-be patched SharePoint vulnerability that was made public in May this year," the company said in a statement. "The assumption was that Microsoft was going to patch it next week. Now that they have pulled this bulletin, the next possible release date as part of the regular patch cycle is October's Patch Tuesday." McAfee has not seen any attacks that exploit the flaw in question, however. Microsoft is still on track to deliver the remaining four security updates next Tuesday. Those patches include a critical update for Windows 2000, as well as important patches for Visual Studio, Windows Services for Unix, and the Windows Live and MSN Messenger software. Microsoft's subsequent round of security updates are expected on Tuesday Oct. 9.
303561
September&#39;s batch of Microsoft security patches was trimmed Friday, as Microsoft announced that a planned update to its SharePoint collaboration software would not be released this month.
553808
The stealth update that Microsoft recently delivered to customers blocks 80 patches and fixes from installing after Windows XP is restored using its "repair" feature.
544694
Users of Microsoft&#39;s Windows XP computer operating system should be on the lookout for the latest round of updates and patches, which fix several security problems but lack any real security advancements.
386930
Microsoft has been reticent to commit publicly on how, when and whether it would make the browser-specific security fixes that it delivered as part of Windows XP Service Pack 2 available to users of older versions of Windows.
642533
(InfoWorld) - MicrosoftÂ released its February set of security updates Tuesday, including critical fixes for bugs in Office and the scanning engine used by the company's security products. The security software flaw is of particular concern because it could, in theory, be very easily exploited by an attacker to run unauthorized software on a victim's PC. The bug has to do with the way that Microsoft's Malware Protection Engine, used by Windows Live One Care and Windows Defender, processes PDF files. Windows Defender is available for free and ships with Microsoft's Vista operating system. "An attacker could exploit the vulnerability by constructing a specially crafted PDF File that could potentially allow remote code execution when the target computer system receives, and the Microsoft Malware Protection Engine scans, the PDF file," Microsoft said in its bulletin on the patch. This engine is also used by Microsoft's Antigen and Windows Forefront Security products, meaning that Exchange servers running these products could also be compromised. Although there is not yet any known attack that exploits this flaw, it could become a serious problem for Windows users running Microsoft's security products, according to Amol Sarwate, vulnerability lab manager at Qualys. "These attacks are very difficult to avoid," he said. "These products run automatically in the background." Symantec rated this scanning engine flaw the most critical of the vulnerabilities patched on Tuesday. Microsoft actually released the patch for this flaw on Jan. 26, although it did not notify customers of this bug until Tuesday's bulletin, said Mark Griesi, a security program manager with the company's Trustworthy Computing group. Griesi said that there was no particular reason why Microsoft declined to notify customers of the update. But the fact that this was Microsoft's first security product patch since implementing its monthly system apparently contributed to the decision. "It was one of those first-time situations: 'Should we say something now or should we just wait,'" he said. "This time we decided to wait. We won't do it again." In total, six of Microsoft's 12 updates are rated as "critical," the other six have the less-serious rating of "important." Among the patches is a widely anticipated update for Microsoft Word , which fixes six bugs in Microsoft's word processing software. Hackers had been exploiting a number of these bugs in very targeted attacks over the past few months. The updates fix 20 bugs in total, including all four of the Word flaws that hackers had been exploiting, Griesi said. Other critical patches fix bugs in the ActiveX HTML Help control and Microsoft Data Access Components, both used by Windows, as well as flaws in Office and Internet Explorer.
549045
In sharp contrast to last month&#39;s barrage of critical patches, Microsoft has offered up just one &quot;important&quot; fix for users to implement in its scheduled round of security updates for November.
560856
Microsoft was not alone to release a security update to one of their applications this week (they updated the firewall, which was shipped with Windows XP).
208308
Though Microsoft Corp.'s new security update package is all about protecting systems from worms, viruses, and spyware, it can't do much about what's already on computers -- and that could pose a problem.
372620
Silent modifications to the Windows Update software in Vista and XP have been a long-time practice and are needed to keep users patched, the company said.
715617
Security vendors are warning of two new malware variants that exploit a recently patched flaw in Windows, but Microsoft says that attacks are not on the rise.
162706
Microsoft Corp. is starting to ramp up distribution of its massive security update for the Windows XP operating system, but analysts say they still expect the company to move at a relatively slow pace to avoid widespread glitches.
452953
Microsoft has released its last regular security update of the year which includes five new patches, all rated &#39;important&#39;, and the reissue of a &#39;critical&#39; patch after extensive revisions.
60530
REDMOND, Wash. -- Microsoft has delayed distribution of a security update for users of its Windows XP Professional operating system to give some companies more time to test it, the software company said Tuesday.
641672
September's batch of Microsoft security patches was trimmed Friday, as Microsoft announced that a planned updat...