Yahoo! patch squashes messenger bug
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Vuln researcher questions company's disclosure practices Yahoo! bug crushers have plugged a serious hole in Yahoo! Messenger that made it possible for bad guys to remotely take control of a user's machine. The update became available less than 24 hours after an anonymous hacker posted proof-of-concept code that demonstrated how the vulnerability could be exploited.â¦
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In the latest incident of a now-chronic problem that has been bugging Microsoft all year, a recent security patch now causes IE6 to crash in Windows XP...again.
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Fixes made for "critical" JavaScript vulnerability in the Firefox browser and the SeaMonkey application suite.
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Blog: Presence of exploit code puts pressure on Yahoo to fix the security flaws.
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Microsoft Corp. released four software patches Tuesday to fix security flaws, including one that could allow hackers to take over computers running the company's instant messaging programs.
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New vulnerabilities include a critical flaw in Internet Explorer and a "major" bug in Firefox.
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"Highly critical" flaw patched in Cerulean Studios' multi-protocol chat software, which supports several popular IM services.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft has released its security patches for September, fixing known vulnerabilities in its MSN Messenger software and Unix services for Windows as well as a critical bug in Windows 2000. In total, Microsoft patched four bugs in its products. This was one less update than expected following the software maker's last-minute decision to scrap a fix for its SharePoint collaboration software. The Windows 2000 update is the only one Microsoft rates as critical. It affects the Microsoft Agent software that Web developers use to create interactive characters on Web pages. By tricking a Windows 2000 user into visiting a maliciously encoded Web page, an attacker could exploit this flaw to run unauthorized software on a victim's computer. This is not the first time Microsoft has been forced to patch a critical bug in Microsoft Agent. In April, the company fixed a similar flaw that also affected Windows XP users. Because the MSN Messenger and Windows Services for Unix flaws were both publicly disclosed last month, they should also be given priority said Amol Sarwate, manager of Qualys's vulnerability research lab. "They had both been known for awhile, but they are important," he said. "Especially the MSN vulnerability." MSN Messenger and Windows Live Messenger users will be prompted to upgrade their software when they connect with Microsoft's instant-messaging services, Microsoft said in its notes on the security update. "If you do not upgrade to a non-affected version of the MSN Messenger or Windows Live Messenger client, depending on your platform, you will be notified to upgrade on each attempt to sign on." MSN Messenger 7.0.0820 or Windows Live Messenger 8.1 are not vulnerable to the flaw, Microsoft said. The fourth patch issued Tuesday fixes a bug in Crystal Reports for Visual Studio. Attackers could run code on a victim's PC by getting them to open a specially crafted Crystal Reports RPT file, Microsoft said. Overall, the September updates are a far less serious group of patches than the nine updates Microsoft released last month. "Compared to last month, Patch Tuesday in September is almost anticlimactic," security vendor McAfee said in a statement. "Customers who have legacy applications installed on Windows Server 2000 Service Pack 4 should be paying the most attention, but we don't foresee a lot of exploitation of the Windows 2000 vulnerability. Not many people will use those systems to surf the Web, which would be the attack vector."
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(InfoWorld) - With attackers finding new ways to exploit aÂ critical flaw in Internet Explorer, Microsoft Corp. has released a patch for the problem, ahead of its next scheduled round of security updates. The patch fixes a critical vulnerability in the way Internet Explorer renders VML (Vector Markup Language) graphics. Hackers had been exploiting the flaw, which also affectsÂ some versions of Outlook, for more than a week, and in recent days malicious activity had been on the upswing. More information on the update, which was released Tuesday, can be foundÂ here. The out-of-cycle release is unusual, but not unprecedented. Microsoft generally releases its security updates on the second Tuesday of every month, giving system administrators a predictable way to set aside time to test the new software. Occasionally, the company will release patches ahead of time if a flaw is being widely exploited by attackers. In January itÂ patched a critical flaw in the Microsoft Windows Metafile (WMF) image-rendering engine after it became a widespread problem. With attack code that works on the latest version of Windows XP now publicly available, the VML bug is shaping up as a very serious concern for administrators, said Ken Dunham, the director of Verisign Inc.'s iDefense Rapid Response Team. VML attacks have now "dwarfed the WMF activity in the same period of time compared to last year," he said. By Tuesday, more than 3,000 Web sites were already infecting users with malware that exploited the VML bug, according to Dunham. One week into the WMF outbreak last January, iDefense saw about 600 sites exploiting the problem. Security experts also warn that there are many variants of the VML malware, some of which may be missed by security software. Researchers at iDefense are now looking at a dozen possible variations of the VML exploit code and have confirmed the existence of seven variants, Dunham said. "With WMF there wasn't nearly as much modification. We see a lot of different permutations and obfuscation techniques being utilize with VML attacks." AÂ group of security researchers released a patch for the VML flaw late last week, independent of Microsoft, but criminals have even found a way to exploit the fix. In the past few days they have been circulating phoney e-mails, claiming to be a patch for the VML problem. If downloaded, this fake patch actually installs malicious software on the victim's system, Dunham said. Microsoft's next regularly scheduled security updates will be released Oct. 10. Â ADVERTISEMENTMAKE SOA REAL WITH IBM WEBSPHERE PODCASTStreamline processes and maximize efficiency within a proven service oriented architecture. Take back control of your business processes with IBM WebSphere.
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InfoWorld - Yahoo, disconcertingly unable toÂ develop a popular social networking site, will try to accentuate the social networking capabilities of Yahoo Messenger when it releases on Tuesday a beta upgrade of this widely used instant messaging service.
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A variant of a bug that uses an Internet Explorer 6 vulnerability exposes Microsoft Windows systems patched with Service Pack 2. A security researcher claims to have crafted a simpler version of a bug first identified in late October.
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TechWeb - Apple Computer Inc. released a security patch for its Mac OS X iChat instant messaging client.
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Yahoo Messenger Patches Security Hole  If you logged into Yahoo Messenger today and was taken a back by an automatic security download - don't be scared, it's no virus. Yahoo was only patching up a few holes.  Yahoo has posted a security patch for a flaw in its instant messaging software that ...
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Four security bulletins issued today patch just four vulnerabilities in Windows, Visual Studio, and the MSN and Windows Live Messenger software.
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Security update to QuickTime 7.1.6 patches two issues with the way QuickTime interacts with Java.
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Blog: Many of the patches address flaws within Quicktime for Java.
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Although Microsoft had planned to release a patch today for a OneCare flaw that eats Outlook and Outlook Express e-mail files, user complaints prompted it to actually put out the fix on Sunday.