A Blizzard of Security Patches
While we're digging out from under a blizzard here on the East Coast, the entire IT industry is digging out from a blizzard of security patches from Microsoft this week. (I'll admit that was a weak hook, but cut me some slack. I'm tired from all this shoveling. We've gotten 38 inches and counting since Saturday here in suburban Baltimore.)
Microsoft this week released 13 security bulletins addressing 26 vulnerabilities. The security community doesn't seem exceptionally worked up about the flaws -- though, of course, they recommend that everyone patch them all immediately.
Jason Miller, data and security team leader with Shavlik Technologies, said in an e-mail to reporters, "There have been no reports of active attacks against these vulnerabilities. One of these vulnerabilities has been publicly disclosed."
To Miller, IT professionals need to address three of the bulletins right away: MS10-006 to fix two vulnerabilities in the SMB networking service, MS10-007 to fix a vulnerability in the Windows Shell handler, and MS10-013 to fix a flaw in Microsoft DirectShow.
Joshua Talbot, security intelligence manager at Symantec Security Response, is most concerned about MS10-012.
"The SMB Server pathname overflow vulnerability tops my list this month," Talbot said in an e-mail. "Server-side vulnerabilities aren't too common anymore, but they're a golden goose for attackers when they are discovered. With this one, if an attacker can find a vulnerable remote server that has a guest account set up, just like that, they've got access to the machine and possibly the entire local network -- all without any user involvement required."
Posted by Scott Bekker on February 10, 2010