Switchfast Blog: The Future of IT
Patch Tuesday: Slow, But Still Very Important
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 by Bryan Anderson
February seemed to unload with security patches, but March has
started off as a slow month for user security bulletins. Although
the number of concerns has declined, the urgency in correcting
these vulnerabilities still remains and Microsoft insists you
address these securities like previous patches.
In yesterday's Patch Tuesday, two bulletins were issued to
address eight vulnerabilities in Windows and Microsoft Office. One
of these defects specifically targets Excel and may allow
hackers to remote code execute, or take control of your system.
Security experts believe this could affect many businesses due to
the frequent use of the Excel application.
The second bulletin addresses an issue in Microsoft Producer
2003. Microsoft is actually NOT providing a patch for this, instead
opting to advise businesses to uninstall the component.
Another unpatched (zero-day) vulnerability that
Microsoft points out is one which involves IE 6 and IE 7. Here is a
piece from the announcement:
"The vulnerability exists due to an invalid pointer reference
being used within Internet Explorer. It is possible under certain
conditions for the invalid pointer to be accessed after an object
is deleted."
As infosecurity-us.com points out, several flaws in IE remain
unpatched. Flaws that allow for information disclosure in IE
(Advisory 980088) and enable remote code execution if a user can be
lured into hitting the F1 key and activating Microsoft's help file
system on a maliciously crafted website are still dangerous to
businesses and users.
Make sure to update your systems with all patches by Microsoft
over at this website.
Until next time -
Matthew Hymel
Switchfast Technologies
Chicago IT Support &
Consulting
Rochester
IT Support & Consulting
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