* Patches from Gentoo, rPath, Mandriva, others * Malware Install Hides Behind Fake Blue Screen Of Death * Internet bug fix spawns backlash from hackers, and other interesting reading
Early this weeek, Microsoft said during its Patch Tuesday updates that the DNS fix was only “important,” not critical. Turns out, it might be critical based on the widespread nature of the vulnerability. Most major vendors simultaneously released updates on Tuesday for the DNS flaw, which could be exploited to redirect legitimate Web sites to malicious locales. Also, Microsoft announced there is a Zero Day exploit out for Word 2002, a flaw not patched in this recent round of updates. That leaves some versions of Access and Word exposed to threats for potentially another month.
DNS hole prompts synchronized patching effort by IT vendors
In a rare synchronized security move, Microsoft Corp., Cisco Systems Inc. and other IT vendors today released software patches aimed at addressing a fundamental design flaw in the Domain Name System (DNS) protocol used to direct traffic on the Internet. Computerworld, 07/08/2008.
A list of all vunlnerable systems can be found in this US-CERT advisory.
More DNS updates:
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Microsoft confirms active Word attacks
Only hours after it fixed nine vulnerabilities in several of its programs, Microsoft Corp. late Tuesday confirmed that attackers are exploiting an unpatched bug in Word. Now, some versions of Word and Access are vulnerable with no patch in sight. Computerworld, 07/08/2008.
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Two new updates from Gentoo:
Poppler (user-assisted code execution)
PCRE (buffer overflow, code execution)
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Three new patches from rPath:
Ruby (buffer overflow, code execution)
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Three new fixes from Mandriva:
OpenOffice.org for Mandriva 2008.1 (integer overflow, code execution)
OpenOffice.org for older version of Mandriva (integer overflow, code execution)
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Today’s malware news:
Malware Install Hides Behind Fake Blue Screen Of Death
Get a file called “ieupdater.exe”? If the file is allowed to execute on the PC, you may well see the dreaded Blue Screen Of Death (or BSOD to its friends). However, all is not what it seems. While the end-user is faced with the horrors of the BSOD, behind the scenes Malware is installing by the bucketload. The SpywareGuide Greynets Blog, 07/09/2008.
Microsoft Access Snapshot Viewer Exploited in Neosploit Wrapper
I have not managed to confirm that this is a completely new version of Neosploit, but in effect the attack consists of an encrypted block that is similar to some of the Mpack variants. Symantec Security Response blog, 07/09/2008.
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From the interesting reading department:
Internet bug fix spawns backlash from hackers
Hackers are a skeptical bunch, but that doesn’t bother Dan Kaminsky, who got a lot of flack from his colleagues in the security research community after claiming to have discovered a critical bug in the Internet’s infrastructure. IDG News Service, 07/10/2008.
Justice Breyer Is Among Victims in Data Breach Caused by File Sharing
Sometime late last year, an employee of a McLean investment firm decided to trade some music, or maybe a movie, with like-minded users of the online file-sharing network LimeWire while using a company computer. In doing so, he inadvertently opened the private files of his firm, Wagner Resource Group, to the public. Washington Post, 07/09/2008.
Microsoft patch knocks some ZoneAlarm users offline
Users of the popular ZoneAlarm firewall have reported dead Internet connections after installing one of the security updates issued by Microsoft Corp. yesterday, according to online message forums. Computerworld, 07/09/2008.
