Patch Tuesday Analysis for August 2010

None of the vulnerabilities addressed today are currently being exploited but a couple are publicly disclosed. Also don’t miss the out-of-band bulletin MS10-046 from August 2.  Notes on some of the more interesting ones and then the full chart of Fast Facts.

• MS10-047 addresses 3 vulnerabilities in the Windows Kernel. It can only be exploited by a user logging on locally so only workstations and terminal servers would be affected.
•  MS10-048 also addresses multiple vulnerabilities, this time in the Windows Kernel mode drivers. One of the five vulnerabilities has been publicly disclosed. Again the attacker would have to be able to log on locally.
•  MS10-049 covers two schannel vulnerabilities.
•  MS10-050 patches a vulnerability in Movie Maker can lead to remote code. It is noted that Movie Maker can be installed on Windows 7 but it is not supported. Live Movie Maker is recommended instead. No patch is available for Windows 7.
• With MS10-051 it should be noted the vulnerability is with XML Core Services 3.0 (MSXML). Software other that windows may install this. Newer versions are not affected and older versions are not supported.
• MS10-052 handles a vulnerability in an MPEG Codec used for streaming media in Microsoft XP and Win2003.
• MS10-053 is a cumulative update for Internet Explorer that addresses multiple vulnerabilities.
• MS10-054 is an SMB Server vulnerability. It affects any computer that does file or print sharing. Domain Controllers are at risk because they always have a share open to all users.
• MS10-055 addresses a vulnerability in a codec used by Windows Media Player. Therefore workstations and terminal servers would be most likely affected.
• MS10-056 deals with 4 vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Word. The workarounds don’t cover every vector and require a shrewd user (of course all of us are). Even viewing an RTF message can lead to trouble.  I always view my Outlook mail first in plain text and only open it further if I trust the sender. But that’s only one of the workarounds. It’s like driving an old truck so I don’t mess up my nice car.
• MS10-057 is for Office Excel.
• MS10-058 addresses two networking vulnerabilities in the TCP/IP stack of Windows.
• Most of us are not familiar with the Tracing Feature for Services in Windows. It’s used for diagnostic traces. MS10-059 indicates there are a couple of vulnerabilities one of which is publicly disclosed.
• MS10-060 indicates that browsers using Silverlight are at risk. In addition web hosting sites that allow users to upload custom ASP.NET applications can cause the server to be compromised.

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