Patch Tuesday Analysis for March 2008
This month's updates all involve Microsoft Office components. Since it is public and actively being exploited – and lacks a good workaround, MS08-014 should be given immediate attention if you don’t have the latest Office service packs installed. Another point - one of the MS 'workarounds' is "Do not open or save Microsoft Office files that you receive from untrusted sources or that you receive unexpectedly from trusted source". That's not really a workaround and 1) you will always find someone that does not know how to follow that simple instruction 2) just because it comes from a trusted source doesn’t mean his/her computer isn’t infected with malware. Some enterprise networks have elected to quarantine all file attachments with Office file extensions that come from outside the local network.
Below is my standard chart of fast facts to help your analysis:
| Bulletin | Exploit Types
/Technologies Affected | System Types Affected | Exploit
details public?
/ Being exploited? | Comprehensive,
practical
workaround
available? | MS severity rating | Products Affected | Notes | Randy's recommendation | MS08-017
933103 | Arbitrary code
/ Office Web Components | Workstations
Terminal Servers
| No/No | Yes | Critical | Office 2000
Office XP
Visual Studio .NET 2002
Visual Studio .NET 2003
Internet Sec. & Acc. Server 2K
Commerce Server 2000
BizTalk Server 2000
BizTalk Server 2002
| Patch sets kill bit | Set kill bit; Patch after testing | MS08-014
949029 | Arbitrary code
/ Office Excel | Workstations
Terminal Servers
| Yes/Yes | No | Critical | Office 2000
Office XP
Office 2003
Office 2007
Office 2004 for Mac
Office 2008 for Mac
Comp. Pack for Office 2007
| Fixes several vulnerabilities. Office 2003 SP3 and Office 2007 SP1 not affected. | Patch immediately. | MS08-016
949030 | Arbitrary code
/ Office | Workstations
Terminal Servers
| No/No | Yes | Critical | Office 2000
Office XP
Office 2003
Office 2004 for Mac
| Some later service pack levels not affected. | Install MOICE, use file block policy; Patch after testing | MS08-015
949031 | Arbitrary code
/ Outlook | Workstations
Terminal Servers
| No/No | Yes | Critical | Office 2000
Office XP
Office 2003
Office 2007
| 2007 SP1 not affected. | Disable mailto handler; Patch after testing |
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