Hello, welcome to this month's blog on the Microsoft patch release. This month the vendor is releasing four bulletins covering a total of 11 vulnerabilities. Seven of this month's issues are rated ’Critical’.
As always, customers are advised to follow these security best practices:
- Install vendor patches as soon as they are available.
- Run all software with the least privileges required while still maintaining functionality.
- Avoid handling files from unknown or questionable sources.
- Never visit sites of unknown or questionable integrity.
- Block external access at the network perimeter to all key systems unless specific access is required.
Microsoft's summary of the April releases can be found here:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/bulletin/ms14-apr
The following is a breakdown of the issues being addressed this month:
MS14-017 Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Word and Office Web Apps Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2949660)
Microsoft Office File Format Converter Vulnerability (CVE-2014-1757) MS Rating: Important
A remote code execution vulnerability exists in the way that affected Microsoft Office software converts specially crafted files. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary code as the current user. If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker could take complete control of the affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.
Microsoft Word Stack Overflow Vulnerability (CVE-2014-1758) MS Rating: Important
A remote code execution vulnerability exists in the way that Microsoft Word parses specially crafted files. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary code as the current user. If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker could take complete control of the affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.
Word RTF Memory Corruption Vulnerability (CVE-2014-1761) MS Rating: Critical
A remote code execution vulnerability exists in the way that Microsoft Word parses specially crafted files. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary code as the current user. If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker could take complete control of the affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.
MS14-018 Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (2950467)
Internet Explorer Memory Corruption Vulnerability (CVE-2014-0235) MS Rating: Critical
A remote code execution vulnerability exists when Internet Explorer improperly accesses an object in memory. This vulnerability may corrupt memory in such a way that an attacker could execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user.
Internet Explorer Memory Corruption Vulnerability (CVE-2014-1751) MS Rating: Critical
A remote code execution vulnerability exists when Internet Explorer improperly accesses an object in memory. This vulnerability may corrupt memory in such a way that an attacker could execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user.
Internet Explorer Memory Corruption Vulnerability (CVE-2014-1752) MS Rating: Critical
A remote code execution vulnerability exists when Internet Explorer improperly accesses an object in memory. This vulnerability may corrupt memory in such a way that an attacker could execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user.
Internet Explorer Memory Corruption Vulnerability (CVE-2014-1753) MS Rating: Critical
A remote code execution vulnerability exists when Internet Explorer improperly accesses an object in memory. This vulnerability may corrupt memory in such a way that an attacker could execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user.
Internet Explorer Memory Corruption Vulnerability (CVE-2014-1755) MS Rating: Critical
A remote code execution vulnerability exists when Internet Explorer improperly accesses an object in memory. This vulnerability may corrupt memory in such a way that an attacker could execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user.
Internet Explorer Memory Corruption Vulnerability (CVE-2014-1760) MS Rating: Critical
A remote code execution vulnerability exists when Internet Explorer improperly accesses an object in memory. This vulnerability may corrupt memory in such a way that an attacker could execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user.
MS14-019 Vulnerability in Windows File Handling Component Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2922229)
Windows File Handling Vulnerability (CVE-2014-0315) MS Rating: Important
A remote code execution vulnerability exists in the way that Microsoft Windows processes .bat and .cmd files that are run from an external network. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.
MS14-020 Vulnerability in Microsoft Publisher Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2950145)
Arbitrary Pointer Dereference Vulnerability (CVE-2014-1759) MS Rating: Important
A remote code execution vulnerability exists in the way that Microsoft Publisher parses specially crafted files. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary code as the current user. If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker could take complete control of the affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.
More information on the vulnerabilities being addressed this month is available at Symantec's free SecurityFocus portal and to our customers through the DeepSight Threat Management System.