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    Latest Warnings / Security Tools / Time to Patch — 13 Comments
    8
    May 12

    Adobe, Microsoft Push Critical Security Fixes

    Adobe and Microsoft today each issued updates to address critical security flaws in their software. Adobe’s patch plugs at least five holes in its Shockwave Player, while Microsoft has released a bundle of seven updates to correct 23 vulnerabilities in Windows and other products.

    Microsoft’s May patch batch includes fixes for vulnerabilities that could be exploited via Web browsing, file-sharing, or email. Eight of the 23 flaws earned Microsoft’s “critical” rating, meaning no user interaction is required for vulnerable systems to be hacked. At least three of the flaws were publicly disclosed before today.

    According to Microsoft, the two updates are the most dire: The first is one related to a critical flaw in Microsoft Word (MS12-029); the second is an unusually ambitious update that addresses flaws present in Microsoft Office, Windows, .NET Framework and Silverlight. In a blog post published today, Microsoft explained why it chose to patch all of these seemingly disparate products all in one go. But the short version is that Microsoft is addressing the ghost of Duqu, a sophisticated malware family discovered last year that was designed to attack industrial control systems and is thought to be related to the infamous Stuxnet worm. A patch Microsoft issued last year addressed the underlying Windows vulnerability exploited by Duqu, but the company found that the same vulnerable code resided in a slew of other Microsoft applications.

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    Latest Warnings / Time to Patch — 23 Comments
    4
    May 12

    Critical Flash Update Fixes Zero-day Flaw

    Adobe Systems Inc. today issued a security update to its Flash Player software. The company stressed that the update fixes a critical vulnerability that malicious actors have been using in targeted attacks.

    Adobe classifies a security flaw as critical if it can be used to break into vulnerable machines without any help from users. The company said the vulnerability (CVE-2012-0779) fixed in the version released today has been exploited in targeted attacks designed to trick the user into clicking on a malicious file delivered in an email message, and that the exploit used in the attacks seen so far target Flash Player on Internet Explorer for Windows only.

    Nevertheless, there are updates available for Flash Player versions designed for all operating systems that Adobe supports, including Mac, Linux and Android devices.

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    Latest Warnings / Time to Patch — 15 Comments
    27
    Apr 12

    Correction to Java Update Story

    An earlier version of this blog post incorrectly stated that Oracle had shipped security updates for its Java software. Oracle did push out an update for Java earlier this month — Java 6 Update 32 — but the new version was a maintenance update that did not include security fixes. My apologies for any confusion this may have caused.

    Latest Warnings / Security Tools / Time to Patch — 21 Comments
    10
    Apr 12

    Adobe, Microsoft Issue Critical Updates

    Adobe and Microsoft today each issued critical updates to plug security holes in their products. The patch batch from Microsoft fixes at least 11 flaws in Windows and Windows software. Adobe’s update tackles four vulnerabilities that are present in current versions of Adobe Acrobat and Reader.

    Seven of the 11 bugs Microsoft fixed with today’s release earned its most serious “critical” rating, which Microsoft assigns to flaws that it believes attackers or malware could leverage to break into systems without any help from users. In its security bulletin summary for April 2012, Microsoft says it expects miscreants to quickly develop reliable exploits capable of leveraging at least four of the vulnerabilities. Continue reading →

    Latest Warnings / Security Tools / Time to Patch — 58 Comments
    4
    Apr 12

    Urgent Fix for Zero-Day Mac Java Flaw

    Apple on Monday released a critical update to its version of Java for Mac OS X that plugs at least a dozen security holes in the program. More importantly, the patch mends a flaw that attackers have recently pounced on to broadly deploy malicious software, both on Windows and Mac systems.

    Distribution of 550,000 Flashback-infected Macs. Source: Dr.Web.com

    The update, Java for OS X Lion 2012-001 and Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 7, sews up an extremely serious security vulnerability (CVE-2012-0507) that miscreants recently rolled into automated exploit kits designed to deploy malware to Windows users. But in the past few days, information has surfaced to suggest that the same flaw has been used with great success by the Flashback Trojan to infect large numbers of Mac computers with malware.

    The revelations come from Russian security firm Dr.Web, which reports that the Flashback Trojan has successfully infected more than 550,000 Macs, most which it said were U.S. based systems (hat tip to Adrian Sanabria). Dr.Web’s post is available in its Google translated version here.

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    Latest Warnings / Security Tools / Time to Patch — 44 Comments
    28
    Mar 12

    Critical Security Update for Adobe Flash Player

    Adobe has issued a security update for its Flash Player software that fixes at least two critical vulnerabilities in the widely-used program. At long last, this latest version also includes an auto-updating mechanism designed to streamline the deployment of Flash security fixes across multiple browsers.

    If it seems like you just updated Flash to fix security holes, it’s not your imagination. This is the third security update for Flash in the last six weeks. Flash Player v. 11.2 addresses a couple of flaws  in Adobe Flash Player 11.1.102.63 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Solaris, and Adobe Flash Player 11.1.111.7 and earlier versions for Android 3.x and 2.x. Adobe warns that these vulnerabilities could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system.

    My previous posts on Flash updates have been accompanied by lengthy instructions about how to update the program. That’s in part because Adobe has traditionally deployed two separate installers for Windows based systems: One for Flash on Internet Explorer, and another for non-IE browsers. With the release of Flash Player 11.2, Adobe is introducing a new background update mechanism for Windows users that promises to take some of the pain out of updating. Continue reading →

    A Little Sunshine / Latest Warnings / Time to Patch — 51 Comments
    27
    Mar 12

    New Java Attack Rolled into Exploit Packs

    If your computer is running Java and you have not updated to the latest version, you may be asking for trouble: A powerful exploit that takes advantage of a newly-disclosed security hole in Java has been rolled into automated exploit kits and is rapidly increasing the success rates of these tools in attacking vulnerable Internet users.

    The exploit targets a bug in Java (CVE-20120-0507) that effectively allows the bypassing of Java’s sandbox, a mechanism built into the ubiquitous software that is designed partly to blunt attacks from malicious code. Microsoft’s Malware Protection Center warned last week that new malware samples were surfacing which proved highly effective at exploiting the flaw. Microsoft says the samples it saw loaded the ZeuS Trojan, but thieves can use such attacks to install malware of their choosing.

    According to posts on several underground carding forums, the exploit has now been automatically rolled out to miscreants armed with BlackHole, by far the most widely used exploit pack. An exploit pack is a software toolkit that gets injected into hacked or malicious sites, allowing the attacker to foist a kitchen sink full of browser exploits on visitors. Those visiting such sites with outdated browser plugins may have malware silently installed, and Java is almost universally the most successful method of compromise across all exploit kits.

    According to software giant Oracle, Java is deployed across more than 3 billion systems worldwide. But the truth is that many people who have this powerful program installed simply do not need it, or only need it for very specific uses. I’ve repeatedly encouraged readers to uninstall this program, not only because of the constant updating it requires, but also because there seem to be a never-ending supply of new exploits available for recently-patched or undocumented vulnerabilities in the program.

    Case in point: On at least two Underweb forums where I regularly lurk, there are discussions among several core members about the sale and availability of an exploit for an as-yet unpatched critical flaw in Java. I have not seen firsthand evidence that proves this 0day exploit exists, but it appears that money is changing hands for said code. Continue reading →

    Latest Warnings / Time to Patch — 28 Comments
    13
    Mar 12

    RDP Flaws Lead Microsoft’s March Patch Batch

    Microsoft today released updates to sew up at least seven vulnerabilities in Windows and other software. The sole “critical” update in the bunch patches a particularly dangerous flaw in all supported versions of Windows that allows attackers to seize control over vulnerable systems remotely without authentication.

    The critical update plugs two security holes in Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), a service that is designed to let administrators access Windows systems remotely over a network. The saving grace for these vulnerabilities — which are present in Windows XP, Vista and 7, and Windows Server 2003, and 2008 — is that RDP not enabled by default on standard Windows installations. That means it is far more likely to be a threat to businesses than to consumer systems.

    “It needs to be configured and started by the system’s owner, which then makes the vulnerability accessible; consequently we expect that only a relatively small percentage of machines will have RDP up and running,” said Wolfgang Kandek, chief technology officer for vulnerability management firm Qualys. Continue reading →

    Latest Warnings / Security Tools / Time to Patch — 30 Comments
    5
    Mar 12

    Adobe Patches Critical Flash Flaws

    For the second time in less than a month, Adobe has issued an update to fix dangerous flaws in its Flash Player software. The patch addresses two vulnerabilities rated “critical,” but Adobe says it is not aware of active attacks against either flaw.

    The fixes being released today address a pair of critical bugs that are present in Adobe Flash Player 11.1.102.62 and earlier versions for Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris, Flash Player v 11.1.115.6 and earlier versions for Android 4.x, and Flash Player 11.1.111.6 and earlier versions for Android 3.x and 2.x. Adobe says both flaws in today’s release were reported by Google security researchers.

    For Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris users, the newest version is 11.1.102.63, and is available through the Player Download Center. To find out which version of Flash you have installed, visit this page. Users can grab the latest version from the Adobe Flash Player Download Center, although if you’re not careful to untick the check box next to whatever “optional” goodies Adobe tries to bundle with Flash Player (the most common is McAfee Security Scan Plus) you could end up with more than you wanted.

    Windows users who browse the Web with Internet Explorer and another browser may need to apply the Flash update twice, once using IE and again with the other browser. Chrome normally auto-updates Flash – often hours or days before the fixes are publicly released for download — although for some reason I still had the vulnerable version 11.1.102.62 installed when Adobe’s security advisory was released today. According to the Chrome Releases blog, Google began pushing out an update last night that includes the new Flash version.

    Today’s update comes close on the heels of a critical Flash patch that closed at least seven security holes, including one that was at the time already being exploited to break into vulnerable systems (that one, also, was reported by Google).

    Latest Warnings / Security Tools / Time to Patch — 16 Comments
    15
    Feb 12

    Flash Player Update Nixes Zero-Day Flaw

    Adobe has issued a critical security update for its ubiquitous Flash Player software. The patch plugs at least seven security holes, including one reported by Google that is already being used to trick users into clicking on malicious links delivered via email.

    In an advisory released Wednesday afternoon, Adobe warned that one of the flaws — a cross-site scripting vulnerability (CVE-2012-0767) reported by Google –  was being used in the wild in active, targeted attacks designed to trick users into clicking on a malicious link delivered in an email message. The company said the flaw could be used to take actions on a user’s behalf on any website or webmail provider, if the user visits a malicious website. A spokesperson for the company said this particular attack only works against Internet Explorer on Windows.

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