Microsoft released just five security bulletins for this month’s Patch Tuesday. All of September’s patches are classed as Critical and require immediate attention.
The patches relate to Microsoft Operating Systems. The majority of the supported operating systems are affected this month: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003, Windows Vista, and Windows 2008. Two of the bulletins will require a reboot of the affected Windows Servers.
Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows 7, is not affected this month.
Similar to last month, these patches address fundamental issues relating to vulnerabilities in the operating system which could be used by attackers to compromise your systems. There are also a number of viruses and malware that could exploit these vulnerabilities if left open.
Our usual advice is…
- Ensure that the critical patches are deployed to all Windows desktop and server operating systems, 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 five critical patches (MS09-045, MS09-046, MS09-047, MS09-048, MS09-049).
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 08/09/2009
| MS Link |
ITSL Summary |
Severity |
Affected Software |
Restart after patch |
|
MS09-045
KB971961
|
This patch fixes a flaw in the JavaScript engine of Internet Explorer that allows a remote code execution attack to be performed. Note that Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 are not affected by this issue. You should install this patch immediately. |
Critical |
Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003, Windows Vista, and Windows 2008 |
May Require Restart |
|
MS09-046
KB956844
|
Attackers can take advantage of the DHTML Editing Component ActiveX control to perform a remote code execution attack on Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 machines. The attacker gains the rights of the locally logged on user. You should install this patch in your next patch cycle; it shouldn’t be a problem if you currently disable ActiveX. |
Critical |
Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003 |
May Require Restart |
|
MS09-047
KB973812
|
This patch corrects two problems in which the Windows Media Format can be used to execute remote code execution attacks. This affects Windows Media Player users, as well as servers with Windows Media Services. Itanium 2003 and 2008 systems and Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 systems are not affected. |
Critical |
Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003, Windows Vista, and Windows 2008 |
May Require Restart |
|
MS09-048
KB967723
|
There are a number of issues with the TCP/IP handing in Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008. On Windows Server 2003, these issues are manifested as denial of service attacks; in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, the issues are full remote code execution vulnerabilities. Windows XP, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2 are not affected by this problem. You should install this patch immediately for any system directly connected to the Internet, and during the next patch cycle for systems that do not receive packets directly from the Internet. |
Critical |
Windows 2003, Windows Vista, and Windows 2008 |
Yes |
|
MS09-049
KB970710
|
A problem with the wireless Network Card systems on Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 operating systems is allowing remote code execution attacks to occur. This is not a problem for systems without Wi-Fi or with Wi-Fi turned off. If you have a Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 machine with Wi-Fi, you should install this patch immediately. |
Critical |
2000, XP, Vista, 2003, 2008 |
Yes |
| 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. |