Patch Tuesday Yields Banner Crop of 12 Fixes, 8 of Them Critical
by Alex Woodie
<a target="new" href="http://www.microsoft.com">Microsoft</a> made fixes available for 12 new
security vulnerabilities yesterday in the biggest Patch Tuesday event in recent memory. Nine of the new
security bulletins directly affect the Windows operating system, with the rest affecting the .NET
framework, Windows Media Player and MSN Messenger, and the combination of Microsoft's Portal and
Office. Microsoft said eight of these vulnerabilities are critical, meaning they pose the highest security
threats, and should be patched immediately.
Yesterday's bounty brought at least six new patches for flaws affecting Windows Server 2003, Microsoft's
flagship server operating system, and six more for Windows XP Service Pack 2, the latest security-related
release of the client OS. Microsoft even found time to fix six new flaws in the aging Windows NT 4.0,
support for which was supposed to have ended on December 31.
While many news sites reported there were 13 new patches, there were really only 12, provided you could
get to the Web site to download them. At several times yesterday, Microsoft's TechNet Security Web site
yielded the dreaded "404-Page Not Found" message instead of the specific security bulletins. The problem
was soon fixed. A company spokesperson said Microsoft was not aware of any problems with its Web site.
Here's a rundown on the 12 security flaws and patches that Microsoft announced yesterday:
<a target="new" href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms05-004.mspx">Security
Bulletin MS05-004</a> describes an "important" canonicalization vulnerability in ASP.NET that could
allow an attacker to bypass the security of a Web site and gain unauthorized access to the system.
<a target="new" href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms05-005.mspx">Security
Bulletin MS05-005</a> describes a "critical" buffer overrun vulnerability that could allow remote code
execution in Office, Works, Project, and Visio.
<a target="new" href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms05-006.mspx">Security
Bulletin MS05-006</a> describes a "moderate" cross-site scripting and spoofing vulnerability in
SharePoint Services for Windows Server 2003 that could enable an attacker to convince a user to run a
malicious script.
<a target="new" href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms05-007.mspx">Security
Bulletin MS05-007</a> describes an "important" named-pipe vulnerability in Windows XP Service Pack 1
and SP2 and Windows XP 64-Bit Edition SP1 for Itanium that could allow attackers to remotely read the
user names of users who have an open connection to an available shared resource.
<a target="new" href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms05-008.mspx">Security
Bulletin MS05-008</a> describes an "important" privilege elevation vulnerability that could allow
attackers to take complete control of computers running Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 for
Itanium, Windows XP SP1 and SP2, 64-bit Itanium versions of Windows XP, and Windows 2000 SP3 and
SP4.
<a target="new" href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms05-009.mspx">Security
Bulletin MS05-009</a> fixes a "critical" PNG processing vulnerability in Windows Media Player 9 Series
and Windows Messenger version 5.0 that could lead to remote code execution.
<a target="new" href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms05-010.mspx">Security
Bulletin MS05-010</a> describes a "critical" vulnerability in the License Logging service of Windows
Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 for Itanium, Windows NT Server 4.0 SP6a, NT 4.0 Terminal Server
SP6, and Windows 2000 Server SP3 and SP4 that could allow an attacker to gain complete control over the
affected server.
<a target="new" href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms05-011.mspx">Security
Bulletin MS05-011</a> fixes a "critical" vulnerability with the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol that
could allow remote code execution on Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 for Itanium, Windows
2000 Server SP3 and SP4, Windows XP SP1 and SP2, Windows XP 64-Bit Edition SP1 for Itanium, and
Microsoft Windows XP 64-Bit Edition Version 2003 for Itanium.
<a target="new" href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms05-012.mspx">Security
Bulletin MS05-012</a> describes "critical" OLE and COM vulnerabilities that span many different
Microsoft products, including Windows Server 2003, Exchange Server 2002 SP3, Windows XP SP2, and
recent versions of the Office suite, and could enable an attacker to take complete control of an affected
system.
<a target="new" href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms05-013.mspx">Security
Bulletin MS05-013</a> describes a "critical" vulnerability in the DHTML Editing Component ActiveX
control that could allow remote code execution Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 Itanium,
Windows XP SP1 and SP2, two 64-bit versions of XP for Itanium, Windows 2000 SP3 and SP4, and
Windows 98, Windows ME, and Windows SE.
<a target="new" href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms05-014.mspx">Security
Bulletin MS05-014</a> fixes a "critical" privilege elevation vulnerability in Internet Explorer 6.0 that
could allow an attacker to gain complete control over an affected system.
<a target="new" href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms05-015.mspx">Security
Bulletin MS05-015</a> addresses a "critical" Hyperlink Object Library vulnerability in Windows Server
2003, the Itanium version of Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP, Windows XP SP1 and SP2,
Windows 2000 SP3 and SP4, and Windows 98, ME, and SE.
Microsoft will discuss all of these patches and vulnerabilities in a special two-hour Webcast today at 11:00
a.m. PT. You can register for the Webcast on Microsoft's <a target="new"
href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/default.mspx">TechNet Security Web page</a>.