Bits from Bill
Microsoft says, Emergency Patch on Tuesday
Due to a large number of attacks over the weekend Microsoft(MSFT) announced they will release a patch tomorrow to address the recent Animated Cursor Vulnerability that was made public last week.
Microsoft Security Advisory (935423)
Vulnerability in Windows Animated Cursor Handling
According to Christopher Budd with the Microsoft Security Response Blog
“I mentioned on Friday that this issue was first brought to us in late December 2006 and we’ve been working on our investigation and a security update since then. This update was previously scheduled for release as part of the April monthly release on April 10, 2007. Due to the increased risk to customers from these latest attacks, we were able to expedite our testing to ensure an update is ready for broad distribution sooner than April 10.”
Thanks to all the folks who left comments to my post on Friday, Animated Cursors, Yet Another Zero-Day Vulnerability. If you have installed any 3rd party solutions, be sure to Uninstall them before this update.
posted by Unknown | 11:01 AM
5 Comments:
Bill: I am curious about something. What are the symptoms of a computer being compromised by this vulnerability?
Hi Bill: I found my answer I was misunderstanding the situation. It is not a cursor but a vulnerability in that process which can lead to other nasty critters. Sometimes, oh heck most of the time these issues are so technical I lose track of things.
Bill P.,
This special patch that will be out today do you recommend it be downloaded to our computer right away or should we wait the usual week to see if there are any problems with it?
John
So far, Tuesday morning 8:48 a.m. EDT nothing has appeared at Windows Updates by Microsoft.
I do recommend going ahead and getting this update today. The example code on how to use this flaw has been widely distributed so the chances of being infected is higher than many other zero-day threats. The threat of getting infected is higher than the risk of the patch. Microsoft says they've been testing since December.
Of course, before receiving the update I would recommend doing a restore point and I'm sure, you all do regular back ups of all your important data, right? :)
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