Yesterday, the 13th of October, both Adobe and Microsoft released patches and fixes for their products. Adobe released 1 security bulletin that addressed a total of 29 security vulnerabilities plaguing Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat 9.1.3 (and previous versions 8.1.6 and 7.1.3). Microsoft released 13 security bulletins which address 34 security holes affecting a variety of software products: Windows, Internet Explorer, Office, Silverlight, Forefront, Developer Tools, and SQL Server. Today we take a closer look at these updates.

Starting with Adobe, the California-based company that specializes in creating multimedia and creativity software products, it released Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.2, 8.1.7 and 7.1.4 to address the following 29 security vulnerabilities:

• CVE-2009-3459 - Heap overflow vulnerability that could lead to code execution
• CVE-2009-2985 - Memory corruption issue that could potentially lead to code execution
• CVE-2009-2986 - Multiple heap overflow vulnerabilities that could potentially lead to code execution
• CVE-2009-2990 - Invalid array index issue that could potentially lead to code execution
• CVE-2009-2991 - Remote exploitation issue specific to the Mozilla plug-in that could potentially allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the current user
• CVE-2009-2993 - Multiple input validation vulnerabilities that could potentially lead to code execution
• CVE-2009-2994 - Buffer overflow issue that could potentially lead to code execution
• CVE-2009-2997 - Heap overflow vulnerability that could potentially lead to code execution
• CVE-2009-2998 - Input validation issue that could potentially lead to code execution
• CVE-2009-3458 - Input validation issue that could potentially lead to code execution
• CVE-2009-3460 - Memory corruption issue that could potentially lead to code execution (Acrobat only)
• CVE-2009-2989 - Integer overflow that could potentially lead to code execution (Acrobat only)
• CVE-2009-2983 - Memory corruption issue that leads to a Denial of Service (DoS); arbitrary code execution is possible but has not been demonstrated
• CVE-2009-2980 - Integer overflow that leads to a Denial of Service (DoS); arbitrary code execution is possible but has not been demonstrated
• CVE-2009-2996 - Memory corruption issue that leads to a Denial of Service (DoS); arbitrary code execution is possible but has not been demonstrated
• CVE-2009-3462 - Unix-only format bug when running in Debug mode that could lead to arbitrary code execution
• CVE-2009-2984 - image decoder issue that leads to a Denial of Service (DoS); arbitrary code execution is possible but has not been demonstrated (Acrobat only)
• CVE-2009-2981 - Input validation issue that could potentially lead to a bypass of Trust Manager restrictions
• CVE-2009-3461 - Issue that could allow a malicious user to bypass file extension security controls (Acrobat 9.X only)
• CVE-2009-2982 - Certificate that if compromised could potentially be used in a social engineering attack
• CVE-2009-3431 - Stack overflow issue that could potentially lead to a Denial of Service (DoS) attack
• CVE-2009-2979 - XMP-XML entity expansion issue that could lead to a Denial of Service (DoS) attack
• CVE-2009-2987 - Remote denial of service issue in the ActiveX control specific to the Windows OS
• CVE-2009-2988 - Input validation issue that could lead to a Denial of Service (DoS) issue
• CVE-2009-2992 - Input validation issue specific to the ActiveX control that could lead to a Denial of Service (DoS) attack
• CVE-2009-2995 - Integer overflow in that leads to a Denial of Service (Acrobat only)
• CVE-2009-2564 - Third party web download product that Adobe Reader uses that could potentially lead to local privilege escalation
• CVE-2007-0048 and CVE-2007-0045 - Cross-site scripting issue when the browser plugin is used with Google Chrome and Opera browsers

Please note that support for Adobe Reader 7.X and Acrobat 7.X will end this December. Adobe Reader and Acrobat 7.1.4 is the last scheduled update. You are well advised to upgrade to a supported version.

Moving on to Microsoft, the Redmond-based software developer on Tuesday released the following 13 bulletins (that fix 34 vulnerabilities).

• MS09-050 - Vulnerabilities in SMBv2 Could Allow Remote Code Execution; 3 critical vulnerabilities.
• MS09-051 - Vulnerabilities in Windows Media Runtime Could Allow Remote Code Execution; 2 critical vulnerabilities.
• MS09-052 - Vulnerability in Windows Media Player Could Allow Remote Code Execution; 1 critical vulnerability.
• MS09-054 - Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (974455); 4 critical vulnerabilities.
• MS09-055 - Cumulative Security Update of ActiveX Kill Bits; 1 critical vulnerability.
• MS09-060 - Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Active Template Library (ATL) ActiveX Controls for Microsoft Office Could Allow Remote Code Execution; 3 critical vulnerabilities.
• MS09-061- Vulnerabilities in the Microsoft .NET Common Language Runtime Could Allow Remote Code Execution; 3 critical vulnerabilities.
• MS09-062 - Vulnerabilities in GDI+ Could Allow Remote Code Execution; 8 critical vulnerabilities.
• MS09-053 - Vulnerabilities in FTP Service for Internet Information Services Could Allow Remote Code Execution; 2 important vulnerabilities.
• MS09-056 - Vulnerabilities in Windows CryptoAPI Could Allow Spoofing; 2 important vulnerabilities.
• MS09-057- Vulnerability in Indexing Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution; 1 important vulnerability.
• MS09-058 - Vulnerabilities in Windows Kernel Could Allow Elevation of Privilege; 3 important vulnerabilities.
• MS09-059 - Vulnerability in Local Security Authority Subsystem Service Could Allow Denial of Service; 1 important vulnerability.

The Microsoft Security Response Center has provided these visual representations of the October 2009 Patch Tuesday update.





Additional details about the Adobe update are available here.
Additional details about the Microsoft update are available here.