Microsoft releases 'critical' updates for new programs

Microsoft on Tuesday released fixes for 19 security flaws in several of its products, including the new Internet Explorer 7, Office 2007 and Exchange 2007.

The company published seven security bulletins as part of its monthly patch cycle. All are tagged "critical," its highest rating. Critical vulnerabilities typically allow an attacker to gain full control of an affected system with very little, if any, action by the user.

Most of the vulnerabilities addressed by Tuesday's fixes can only be exploited after someone visits a rigged Web site or opens a malicious file, attack approaches that are increasingly popular among cybercrooks.

Microsoft's MS07-027 update fixes six flaws in Internet Explorer that could be exploited through malicious Web sites. Three Microsoft updates deal with flaws in Office applications, including Office 2007. Most of these bugs exist because of errors in the way the applications handle certain files and could be exploited through a rigged Office file.

Exchange is flawed in a way that could allow a system running the e-mail server software to be fully compromised without any special user action. There are four vulnerabilities in Exchange, including Exchange 2007, addressed by Microsoft's MS07-026 fix. The most serious bug exists in the way Exchange encodes e-mail messages.

The fact that several of the newly reported vulnerabilities critically affect Internet Explorer 7, Office 2007 and Exchange 2007, hurts Microsoft's security message, said Amol Sarwate, manager of the vulnerability research lab at Qualys. Microsoft has marketed these programs as secure, citing its security development process.

"Microsoft 2007 software, including Exchange and Office, continues to come up vulnerable, demonstrating that the security development lifecycle is not infallible," Sarwate said. Last month's Microsoft patches included a fix for a zero-day flaw in Windows that also affected Vista.

Another vulnerability that may affect many users lies in "Capicom," a component to add cryptography to applications. It is flawed in the way it handles specific data, a bug that could let an attacker commandeer a computer running the component, Microsoft said in bulletin MS07-028.

Among Microsoft's updates are fixes for a trio of zero-day vulnerabilities. This includes an expected patch for a flaw in the Windows domain name system, or DNS. The vulnerability affects Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003. Microsoft warned of the problem last month and has said it was being used in "limited" attacks.

The remaining zero-day vulnerabilities for which fixes are now available are in Internet Explorer and Word, Microsoft said. The Word flaw had also been used in cyberattacks, it said.

Microsoft's fixes will be made available to Windows users via the Automatic Updates feature and are also available for download from Microsoft Update and Windows Update.

[Dalkorian]

definition

oxymoron: an obvious contradiction of terms.
Example: Micro$loth security.

"The fact that several of the newly reported vulnerabilities
critically affect Internet Explorer 7, Office 2007 and Exchange
2007, hurts Microsoft's security message, said Amol Sarwate,
manager of the vulnerability research lab at Qualys. Microsoft
has marketed these programs as secure, citing its security
development process."

Maybe we better read over those claims again, did they actually
claim their newest junk offerings were "secure" (a rediculously
stupid claim all by itself - there is no such thing as "secure
software"!), or "the most secure version to date". M$'s security
record is so bad at this point that if they could release
something that only had a thousand major security holes it
could be called a major improvement!

But hey, if you're still drinking Bill's Kool-Aid, you're probably to
high to realize you're being taken for a ride. In that case, enjoy
your slavery!

[wbenton]

Critical Security Issues & Microsoft

Critical Security Issues should be patched within 24 hours with non-critical issues being patched within 72 hours.

Microsoft released SEVEN (7) critital security patches during their regular monthly update.

If they had all been discovered the day before... nothing really needs to be read into it at all.

But we all know that several of these zero-day flaws have been out for quite some time.

But rather than act like a security concious company and offer patches for critical flaws within 24 hours... they wait long past the non-critical 72 hour mark and release critical patches on thier Patch Tuesday... only once a month!!!

They ARE NOT serious about security.

Otherwise they would have released patches within 24 hours!!!

Walt

[kathy.collins]

What is going on in this country?

I find it interesting to watch the broader picture surrounding security in America. NOTHING is more important to safety than SECURITY. Why is this concept so difficult to understand and implement? We need to secure our borders ALL OF THEM......especially cyberspace. Windows needs to be SECURE

[BoB_Roberts54321]

MS Patches are crashin' W2K systems

It would appear that the this weeks' patches are crashing W2K server and workstations. The patch installs, and after a reboot the machine will either blue screen or reboot. There are multiple people reporting this issue on the MS Newsgroups, however I have yet to find an "official" response from MS.
Let's hope they have a fix soon!!
BoB...

[linuxcable23]

KOOL AID I AM NOT DRINKING

M$$ M$$ M$$ allways talking about what they did and what they can do not allways walking the walk its like come on vista 6 years to desgin that give me a break its a fancy looking xp with a cheap security fix M$ does not care about anything but making money thats plain and simple if they really made a product that was good or secure we would not be here talking about it. futher more if your smart linux and apple have been allways making stuff better and more secure and did i mention its free cant beat it so when your done with the bill Gays Kool aid get something that really works!!!!!