This article is more than 1 year old

It's 2015 and a RICH TEXT FILE or a HTTP request can own your Windows machine

Patch now before someone writes exploits for these bugs

Microsoft has delivered its latest monthly batch of security updates to address flaws in Windows, Office and Internet Explorer.

Redmond's latest Patch Tuesday payload includes 11 bulletins, four of which are rated critical as they allow attackers to execute malicious code on victims' computers from across the internet. The full list is as follows:

  • MS15-032 Critical bulletin containing patches for 10 vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer. The bulletin is a cumulative update for Internet Explorer versions 6-11. Opening a malicious webpage that exploits one of these bugs to pull off a remote-code execution attack will compromise your computer unless you patch.
  • MS15-033 Critical bulletin addressing five CVE-listed vulnerabilities (CVE-2015-1641, CVE-2015-1649, CVE-2015-1650, CVE-2015-1651, CVE-2015-1639) in Office 2007-2013 as well as Office for Mac. Opening a dodgy rich text file or Office document could lead to code execution with the privileges of the logged-in user.
  • MS15-034 Critical fix for a remote code execution vulnerability (CVE-2015-1635) in HTTP.sys for Windows 7 and 8 as well as Server 2008 and Server 2012. Sending a malicious HTTP request to a Windows box running the IIS web server can fool the system into executing your malicious code.
  • MS15-035 Critical update for CVE-2015-1645, a flaw in the Microsoft Graphics Component in Windows Server 2003, 2008, Windows Vista and Windows 7. Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 are not listed as vulnerable to the flaw. Opening an EMF file can trigger remote-code execution.
  • MS15-036 Important update for two SharePoint Server elevation of privilege vulnerabilities (CVE-2015-1640 and CVE-2015-1653). Applies to SharePoint Server 2010 and 2013.
  • MS15-037 Important bulletin for an elevation of privilege flaw (CVE-2015-0098) in Windows Task Scheduler. The fix applies to Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2.
  • MS15-038 Important fix for a elevation of privilege vulnerabilities (CVE-2015-1643 and CVE-2015-1644) in Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, RT and Windows Server 2003, 2008 and 2012.
  • MS15-039 Important bulletin to address a security bypass hole (CVE-2015-1646) in XML Core Services on Windows Vista and Windows 7 as well as Server 2003 and Server 2008.
  • MS15-040 Important bulletin for an information disclosure flaw (CVE-2015-1638) in Active Directory for Windows Server 2012 R2.
  • MS15-041 Important information disclosure vulnerability (CVE-2015-1648) in .Net Framework on Windows Vista through Windows 8.1 and Server 2003-2012.
  • MS15-042 Important denial of service vulnerability ((CVE-2015-1647) in Hyper-V for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2.

Microsoft thanks those who reported the aforementioned programming blunders, right here. One of the security updates for Internet Explorer 11 also disables SSL 3.0 support, leaving users with the more secure TLS 1.2 for HTTPS connections, but enterprises can override this.

Meanwhile, Adobe has posted its own scheduled security update to address vulnerabilities in its Flash Player. The patch addresses 22 different CVE-listed vulnerabilities including remote-code execution flaws via malicious Flash files.

Adobe said its update should be a top deployment priority for the Windows, OS X and Linux versions of Flash Player – the bug CVE-2015-3043 is being exploited in the wild by miscreants.

Users and administrators are advised to test (if necessary) and install the Microsoft and Adobe patches as soon as possible in order to reduce the risk of attack. Now these patches are available, hackers will be reverse engineering them to develop exploits against those too slow to upgrade. ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like