Microsoft have released 6 security bulletins for this month's Patch Tuesday.
Three are rated as Critical and the other three have a rating of Important.
Interestingly, no patches were released for Windows 7 again this month. We are monitoring the general functionality and feedback as Windows 7 is adopted around the globe, but currently it’s another positive for Windows 7.
The patches relate to Microsoft Operating Systems and software. The majority of the supported operating systems are affected this month - Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003, Windows Vista and Windows 2008. All of the patches either need or may need a system reboot.
As usual, these patches address fundamental issues relating to vulnerabilities in the operating system or software which could be used by attackers to compromise your systems. There are a number of viruses and malware that could exploit these vulnerabilities making them a real threat if left open.
Our usual advice is…
- Ensure that the critical patches are deployed to all Windows desktop and server operating systems and Software, where appropriate, immediately
- Ensure that all Anti-virus and Malware blocking software packages are fully up to date, and properly configured firewalls are in place within your environment
- Update you Operating systems with the six critical patches (MS09-063, MS09-064, MS09-065, MS09-066, MS09-067, MS09-068)
As always, some consideration is needed in order to evaluate any risks depending on whether you have the relevant affected environment. More details on these patches is given in the table below with links to the relevant Microsoft Knowledge base articles.
Table 1: Details of MS Patches released Tuesday 10/11/2009
| MS Link |
ITSL Summary |
Severity |
Affected Software |
Restart after patch |
|
MS09-063
KB973565
|
An attacker on the local subnet (A portion of your network) only could use a cleverly created peice of data to perform a remote execution attack against Vista and 2008. Although the chances of this happening are very slim there is still chance so get this patched ASAP |
Critical |
Windows Vista and Windows 2008 |
Yes |
|
MS09-064
KB974783
|
The License Logging Server on Windows 2000 allows attackers to perform remote executions against the machine. Patch ASAP |
Critical |
Windows 2000 |
Yes |
|
MS09-065
KB969947
|
There are a few of problems with the Windows kernel that allow potential attackers with cleverly created fonts to attack the system. On 2000, XP, and 2003, these are remote code execution exploits. On Vista and 2008, there are escalation of privileges attacks. Patch ASAP |
Critical |
Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003,
Windows Vista and Windows 2008 |
Yes |
|
MS09-066
KB973037
|
A problem with various active Directory systems allows cleverly developed LDAP queries (software requests) to clog up Active Directory system on servers. Important but can wait until your next update process |
Important |
Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003
and Windows 2008 |
Yes |
|
MS09-067
KB973593
|
There are a number of problems with software that can open Excel files. If a “hacked” Excel files is opened it can lead to a remote code execution exploit. Although Microsoft has marked this as important we recommend applying this patch ASAP as most users open an excel file without any further consideration |
Important |
Office XP, Office 2003, Office 2004 for Mac, Office 2008 for Mac, Open XML File Converter for Mac, Excel Viewer 2003, Office Compatibility Pack 2007 SP1 and SP2 |
May Require Restart |
|
MS09-068
KB976307
|
In a similar way to the Excel problem above |
Important |
Office XP, Office 2003, Office 2004 for Mac, Office 2008 for Mac, Open XML File Converter for Mac, Word Viewer |
May Require Restart |
| Rating |
Definition |
| Critical |
A vulnerability whose exploitation could allow the propagation of an Internet worm without user action. |
| Important |
A vulnerability whose exploitation could result in compromise of the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of users data, or of the integrity or availability of processing resources. |
| Moderate |
Exploitability is mitigated to a significant degree by factors such as default configuration, auditing, or difficulty of exploitation. |
| Low |
A vulnerability whose exploitation is extremely difficult, or whose impact is minimal. |