January 15, 2014
Not to be left out of this month’s “Patch Tuesday” festivities, Adobe has released security updates for its Reader, Acrobat, Flash Player, and AIR software.
The Security Bulletin [APSB14-01] for Acrobat and Reader applies only to the Windows and Mac OS X platforms. Adobe says the affected software versions are:
- Adobe Reader XI (11.0.05) and earlier 11.x versions for Windows and Macintosh
- Adobe Reader X (10.1.8) and earlier 10.x versions for Windows and Macintosh
- Adobe Acrobat XI (11.0.05) and earlier 11.x versions for Windows and Macintosh
- Adobe Acrobat X (10.1.8) and earlier 10.x versions for Windows and Macintosh
Adobe rates the severity of the vulnerabilities addressed by this bulletin as Critical. You can obtain the new version using the software’s built-in update mechanism (Help / Check for Updates); alternatively, you can download Reader installation packages for all platforms here.
The
Security Bulletin [APSB14-02] for
Flash Player and
AIR applies to all platforms (Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X). Affected software versions are:
- Adobe Flash Player 11.9.900.170 and earlier versions for Windows and Macintosh
- Adobe Flash Player 11.2.202.332 and earlier versions for Linux
- Adobe AIR 3.9.0.1380 and earlier versions for Windows and Macintosh
- Adobe AIR 3.9.0.1380 and earlier versions for Android
- Adobe AIR 3.9.0.1380 SDK and earlier versions
- Adobe AIR 3.9.0.1380 SDK & Compiler and earlier versions
(You can check the version of Flash Player installed on your system by visiting Adobe’s About Flash Player page.) Adobe says this is also a Critical vulnerability. Users of Google’s Chrome browser, of of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (Versions 10 and 11) should get the new (bundled) Flash Player automatically. Others can obtain installation packages for all platforms from Adobe’s Flash Player Download Center. Please see the Security Bulletin for information on AIR updates.
These Adobe packages have, historically, been popular targets for attackers, because they are widely installed across different platforms. I recommend that you update you systems as soon as you conveniently can.
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Posted by Rich
December 10, 2013
Microsoft today released its regular monthly batch of security updates for Windows and other software, summarized in the Security Bulletin Summary. This month, there are 11 bulletins, addressing 24 identified vulnerabilities. Five of the bulletins have a Critical severity rating; the other six are rated Important. Six of the bulletins apply to Windows and its components and four apply to Microsoft Office. There are also patches for Exchange, SharePoint, Office Web Apps, and Lync server software, as well as for some Microsoft developer tools. (The complete list of affected software is given in the Security Bulletin Summary, along with download links for the patches.)
All supported versions of Windows have at least two Critical bulletins. The table below shows a breakdown of the Windows bulletins by severity and Windows version.
| Windows Version |
Critical |
Important |
Moderate |
| Windows XP+SP3 |
3 |
2 |
— |
| Windows Vista |
4 |
1 |
— |
| Windows Server 2003 |
2 |
3 |
— |
| Windows Server 2008 |
3 |
2 |
— |
| Windows 7 |
3 |
1 |
— |
| Windows Server 2008 R2 |
2 |
2 |
— |
| Windows 8 |
3 |
1 |
— |
| Windows RT |
3 |
1 |
— |
| Windows Server 2012 |
2 |
2 |
— |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 |
2 |
2 |
— |
| Windows 8.1 |
3 |
1 |
— |
| Windows RT 8.1 |
3 |
1 |
— |
| Windows Server Core |
3 |
1 |
— |
One bulletin applicable to Office is rated Critical; the others are rated Important.
Microsoft says that four of the bulletins for Windows will definitely require a restart; the other bulletins may require one, depending on your system’s configuration.
The SANS Institute has published its usual post summarizing the updates, with their assessment of the severity of each bulletin.
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Posted by Rich
November 11, 2013
On Thursday, in keeping with its usual schedule, Microsoft released the Security Bulletin Advanced Notification for November 2013, previewing the security bulletins and associated patches it intends to release on Tuesday, November 12, 2013. This month there are eight bulletins in all; three of these have a maximum security rating of Critical; the others are rated Important. Six of the bulletins affect Windows and its components. Two bulletins affect Microsoft Office. More details on specific versions are given in the Advanced Notification.
All supported versions of Windows have at least one Critical bulletin. The table below shows a breakdown of the Windows bulletins by severity and Windows version.
| Windows Version |
Critical |
Important |
Moderate |
| Windows XP+SP3 |
3 |
2 |
— |
| Windows Vista |
3 |
2 |
— |
| Windows Server 2003 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
| Windows Server 2008 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
| Windows 7 |
3 |
2 |
— |
| Windows Server 2008 R2 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
| Windows 8 |
3 |
3 |
— |
| Windows RT |
3 |
1 |
— |
| Windows Server 2012 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
| Windows 8.1 |
3 |
3 |
— |
| Windows RT 8.1 |
3 |
1 |
— |
| Windows Server Core |
1 |
3 |
— |
The bulletins for Office are rated Important.
Microsoft says that five of the bulletins for Windows will definitely require a restart; the other bulletins may require one, depending on your system’s configuration.
As always, this information is subject to change between now and the actual release of the bulletins on Tuesday. If there are significant changes, I will post a note here once the actual updates are available.
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Posted by Rich
October 3, 2013
Today, in keeping with its usual schedule, Microsoft released the Security Bulletin Advanced Notification for October 2013, previewing the security bulletins and associated patches it intends to release on Tuesday, October 8, 2013. This month there are eight bulletins in all; four of these have a maximum security rating of Critical; the others are rated Important. Four of the bulletins affect Windows and its components. Three bulletins affect Microsoft Office (including Office for Mac); one of these also affects Microsoft’s SharePoint server. A final bulletin affects Microsoft’s Silverlight. More details on specific versions are given in the Advanced Notification.
All supported desktop versions of Windows have at least one Critical bulletin. The table below shows a breakdown of the Windows bulletins by severity and Windows version.
| Windows Version |
Critical |
Important |
Moderate |
| Windows XP+SP3 |
4 |
— |
— |
| Windows Vista |
4 |
— |
— |
| Windows Server 2003 |
3 |
— |
1 |
| Windows Server 2008 |
3 |
— |
1 |
| Windows 7 |
4 |
— |
— |
| Windows Server 2008 R2 |
3 |
— |
1 |
| Windows 8 |
4 |
— |
— |
| Windows RT |
2 |
1 |
— |
| Windows Server 2012 |
3 |
— |
1 |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 |
— |
1 |
— |
| Windows 8.1 |
1 |
— |
— |
| Windows RT 8.1 |
1 |
— |
— |
| Windows Server Core |
3 |
— |
— |
The bulletins for Office and Slverlight are rated Important.
Microsoft says that three of the bulletins will definitely require a restart, and the other bulletins may require one, depending on your system’s configuration.
As always, this information is subject to change between now and the actual release of the bulletins on Tuesday. If there are significant changes, I will post a note here once the actual updates are available.
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1 Comment | Internet, Security Patches, Software | Tagged: Microsoft, Office, Office for Mac, patch Tuesday, security bulletins, SharePoint, Silverlight, vulnerabilities, Windows | Permalink
Posted by Rich
September 11, 2013
Adobe Systems has released a new version of its Flash Player for all platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and Android. The new version fixes four serious security vulnerabilities identified in Adobe’s Security Bulletin [APSB13-21]; the affected versions of the Flash Player software are:
- Adobe Flash Player 11.8.800.94 and earlier versions for Windows and Macintosh
- Adobe Flash Player 11.2.202.297 and earlier versions for Linux
- Adobe Flash Player 11.1.115.69 and earlier versions for Android 4.x
- Adobe Flash Player 11.1.111.64 and earlier versions for Android 3.x and 2.x
- Adobe AIR 3.8.0.870 and earlier versions for Windows and Android
- Adobe AIR 3.8.0.910 and earlier versions for Macintosh
- Adobe AIR 3.8.0.870 SDK & Compiler and earlier versions for Windows
- Adobe AIR 3.8.0.910 SDK & Compiler and earlier versions for Macintosh
Further details are given in the Security Bulletin.
Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X users can get the new release from Adobe’s download page. For Windows and Mac OS X, the new version is 11.8.800.168; the new version for Linux is 11.2.202.310. (Windows users should note that they may require two updates: one for Internet Explorer, and one for all other browsers.) Details of the new Android versions are given in the Security Bulletin.
The Flash Player bundled with Google’s Chrome browser should be updated automatically to version 11.8.800.170, according to a post on the “Chrome Releases” blog.
Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X users can check the version of Flash Player installed on their systems by visiting Adobe’s About Flash Player page.
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Posted by Rich
September 5, 2013
Today, in keeping with its usual schedule, Microsoft released the Security Bulletin Advanced Notification for September 2013, previewing the security bulletins and associated patches it intends to release on Tuesday, September 10, 2013. This month there are fourteen bulletins in all; four of these have a maximum security rating of Critical; the other ten are rated Important. Seven of the bulletins affect Windows and its components. Seven bulletins affect Microsoft Office (including Office for Mac); one of these also affects Microsoft’s SharePoint server. More details on specific versions are given in the Advanced Notification.
All supported desktop versions of Windows have at least one Critical bulletin. The table below shows a breakdown of the Windows bulletins by severity and Windows version.
| Windows Version |
Critical |
Important |
Moderate |
| Windows XP+SP3 |
2 |
3 |
— |
| Windows Vista |
1 |
3 |
— |
| Windows Server 2003 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
| Windows Server 2008 |
— |
3 |
1 |
| Windows 7 |
1 |
4 |
— |
| Windows Server 2008 R2 |
— |
4 |
1 |
| Windows 8 |
1 |
3 |
— |
| Windows RT |
1 |
2 |
— |
| Windows Server 2012 |
— |
3 |
1 |
| Windows Server Core |
— |
4 |
— |
Two of the bulletins for Office are rated Critical; the other five are rated Important.
Microsoft says that three of the bulletins will definitely require a restart, and the other bulletins may require one, depending on your system’s configuration.
As always, this information is subject to change between now and the actual release of the bulletins on Tuesday. I will post a note here once the actual updates are available.
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Posted by Rich
Random Walks 