April '11 Patch Tuesday: Details on This Record-breaking Patch Tuesday
Last week Microsoft announced that as part of the Patch Tuesday program (patches are released every second Tuesday of the month), this April it will roll out 17 security bulletins that are meant to address a grand total of 64 vulnerabilities that plague Windows operating system, the Office productivity suite, the Internet Explorer web browser, Visual Studio, .NET Framework and GDI+.
The April 2011 is a record-breaking Patch Tuesday. Sophos, company that specializes in providing antivirus, anti-spam, spyware removal software, network and internet security, called it a “Godzilla-sized security patch for Windows users”.
All we knew until now was that out of the abovementioned 17 security bulletins, 9 are rated as 'critical' and 8 are rated as 'important'. Additional information has now been released on these bulletins. Here is the info Microsoft made public about the critical bulletins (there are so many bulletins, we just can’t cover them all):
MS11-018
Title: Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer
Description: Four privately reported vulnerabilities and one publicly disclosed vulnerability in Internet Explorer. This security update is rated Critical for IE6, IE 7, and IE8 on Windows clients, and Moderate for IE6, IE7, and IE8 on Windows servers. IE9 is not affected. The most severe vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted Web page using Internet Explorer.
Most likely attack vector: Victim browses to a malicious webpage.
Affected software: Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer.
MS11-019
Title: Vulnerabilities in SMB Client Could Allow Remote Code Execution
Description: One publicly disclosed vulnerability and one privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if an attacker sent a specially crafted SMB response to a client-initiated SMB request. To exploit these vulnerabilities, an attacker must convince the user to initiate an SMB connection to a specially crafted SMB server.
Most likely attack vector: Victim makes an outbound connection to a malicious SMB server which responds with a malicious SMB packet, potentially executing code on the client in ring0.
Affected software: Microsoft Windows.
MS11-020
Title: Vulnerability in SMB Server Could Allow Remote Code Execution
Description: A privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows that could allow remote code execution if an attacker created a specially crafted SMB packet and sent the packet to an affected system.
Most likely attack vector: Attacker sends malicious network traffic to a victim running the Server service, potentially executing code in ring0.
Affected software: Microsoft Windows.
MS11-027
Title: Cumulative Security Update of ActiveX Kill Bits
Description: Two privately reported vulnerabilities and one publicly disclosed vulnerability in Microsoft software. The vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted Web page that instantiates a specific ActiveX control with Internet Explorer.
Most likely attack vector: Victim browses to a malicious webpage.
Affected software: Microsoft Windows.
MS11-028
Title: Vulnerability in .NET Framework Could Allow Remote Code Execution
Description: A publicly disclosed vulnerability in Microsoft .NET Framework. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution on a client system if a user views a specially crafted Web page using a Web browser that can run XAML Browser Applications (XBAPs).
Most likely attack vector: Victim browses to a malicious webpage that offers an XBAP application. Could also be used by a malicious ASP.Net application to bypass CAS restrictions.
Affected software: Microsoft Windows.
MS11-029
Title: Vulnerability in GDI+ Could Allow Remote Code Execution
Description: A privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows GDI+. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user viewed a specially crafted image file using affected software or browsed a Web site that contains specially crafted content.
Most likely attack vector: Victim opens malicious Word document or opens a malicious EMF file.
Affected software: Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office.
MS11-030
Title: Vulnerability in DNS Resolution Could Allow Remote Code Execution
Description: A privately reported vulnerability in Windows DNS resolution. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if an attacker gained access to the network and then created a custom program to send specially crafted LLMNR broadcast queries to the target systems.
Most likely attack vector: Attacker sends a malicious link local multicast name resolution (LLMNR) request to victims on the same local link, potentially executing code as NetworkService on nearby systems.
Affected software: Microsoft Windows
MS11-031
Title: Vulnerability in JScript and VBScript Scripting Engines Could Allow Remote Code Execution
Description: A privately reported vulnerability in the JScript and VBScript scripting engines. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user visited a specially crafted web site. An attacker would have force users to visit the web site.
Most likely attack vector: Victim browses to a malicious webpage.
Affected software: Microsoft Windows.
MS11-032
Title: Vulnerability in the OpenType Compact Font Format (CFF) Driver Could Allow Remote Code Execution
Description: A privately reported vulnerability in the OpenType Compact Font Format (CFF) driver. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user views content rendered in a specially crafted CFF font. An attacker would have to convince users to visit a web site.
Most likely attack vector: Victim using explorer.exe browses to a folder containing a malicious OTF file.
Affected software: Microsoft Windows.
Additional information on the security bulletins included in the April 2011 Patch Tuesday is available here and here.
The Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) has provided these visual representations of the April 2011 Patch Tuesday.
The April 2011 is a record-breaking Patch Tuesday. Sophos, company that specializes in providing antivirus, anti-spam, spyware removal software, network and internet security, called it a “Godzilla-sized security patch for Windows users”.
All we knew until now was that out of the abovementioned 17 security bulletins, 9 are rated as 'critical' and 8 are rated as 'important'. Additional information has now been released on these bulletins. Here is the info Microsoft made public about the critical bulletins (there are so many bulletins, we just can’t cover them all):
MS11-018
Title: Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer
Description: Four privately reported vulnerabilities and one publicly disclosed vulnerability in Internet Explorer. This security update is rated Critical for IE6, IE 7, and IE8 on Windows clients, and Moderate for IE6, IE7, and IE8 on Windows servers. IE9 is not affected. The most severe vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted Web page using Internet Explorer.
Most likely attack vector: Victim browses to a malicious webpage.
Affected software: Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer.
MS11-019
Title: Vulnerabilities in SMB Client Could Allow Remote Code Execution
Description: One publicly disclosed vulnerability and one privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if an attacker sent a specially crafted SMB response to a client-initiated SMB request. To exploit these vulnerabilities, an attacker must convince the user to initiate an SMB connection to a specially crafted SMB server.
Most likely attack vector: Victim makes an outbound connection to a malicious SMB server which responds with a malicious SMB packet, potentially executing code on the client in ring0.
Affected software: Microsoft Windows.
MS11-020
Title: Vulnerability in SMB Server Could Allow Remote Code Execution
Description: A privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows that could allow remote code execution if an attacker created a specially crafted SMB packet and sent the packet to an affected system.
Most likely attack vector: Attacker sends malicious network traffic to a victim running the Server service, potentially executing code in ring0.
Affected software: Microsoft Windows.
MS11-027
Title: Cumulative Security Update of ActiveX Kill Bits
Description: Two privately reported vulnerabilities and one publicly disclosed vulnerability in Microsoft software. The vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted Web page that instantiates a specific ActiveX control with Internet Explorer.
Most likely attack vector: Victim browses to a malicious webpage.
Affected software: Microsoft Windows.
MS11-028
Title: Vulnerability in .NET Framework Could Allow Remote Code Execution
Description: A publicly disclosed vulnerability in Microsoft .NET Framework. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution on a client system if a user views a specially crafted Web page using a Web browser that can run XAML Browser Applications (XBAPs).
Most likely attack vector: Victim browses to a malicious webpage that offers an XBAP application. Could also be used by a malicious ASP.Net application to bypass CAS restrictions.
Affected software: Microsoft Windows.
MS11-029
Title: Vulnerability in GDI+ Could Allow Remote Code Execution
Description: A privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows GDI+. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user viewed a specially crafted image file using affected software or browsed a Web site that contains specially crafted content.
Most likely attack vector: Victim opens malicious Word document or opens a malicious EMF file.
Affected software: Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office.
MS11-030
Title: Vulnerability in DNS Resolution Could Allow Remote Code Execution
Description: A privately reported vulnerability in Windows DNS resolution. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if an attacker gained access to the network and then created a custom program to send specially crafted LLMNR broadcast queries to the target systems.
Most likely attack vector: Attacker sends a malicious link local multicast name resolution (LLMNR) request to victims on the same local link, potentially executing code as NetworkService on nearby systems.
Affected software: Microsoft Windows
MS11-031
Title: Vulnerability in JScript and VBScript Scripting Engines Could Allow Remote Code Execution
Description: A privately reported vulnerability in the JScript and VBScript scripting engines. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user visited a specially crafted web site. An attacker would have force users to visit the web site.
Most likely attack vector: Victim browses to a malicious webpage.
Affected software: Microsoft Windows.
MS11-032
Title: Vulnerability in the OpenType Compact Font Format (CFF) Driver Could Allow Remote Code Execution
Description: A privately reported vulnerability in the OpenType Compact Font Format (CFF) driver. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user views content rendered in a specially crafted CFF font. An attacker would have to convince users to visit a web site.
Most likely attack vector: Victim using explorer.exe browses to a folder containing a malicious OTF file.
Affected software: Microsoft Windows.
Additional information on the security bulletins included in the April 2011 Patch Tuesday is available here and here.
The Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) has provided these visual representations of the April 2011 Patch Tuesday.
