Busy weeks for admins as Patch Tuesday joined by Adobe fixes, and Mozilla announces plug-in checking plans.
This week has seen
Microsoft
‘s monthly Patch Tuesday release of security updates, featuring a larger than usual 13 fixes, joined by a set of patches from
Adobe
for its widely-used PDF-handling software. With home and business users advised to apply all security-related updates as quickly as possible, it has been a busy time for administrators rushing to test and roll out the bulky batch of patches.
The
Microsoft
bulletin included eight alerts marked ‘Critical’, all of which could lead to remote code execution if the vulnerabilities described were successfully exploited. Of these, among the most significant is a fix for a string of vulnerabilities in the GDI+ image rendering system, which handles a number of image formats widely used online. Also included were updates for
Media Player
and the usual cumulative update for the
Internet Explorer
browser. A further five alerts were labelled ‘Important’, and altogether more than 50 separate vulnerabilities are covered by the release.
At the same time,
Adobe
released a security alert for a string of critical security vulnerabilities in its
Acrobat
and
Reader
software, the leading choices for PDF handling. The update covers several versions and multiple operating systems which may be vulnerable to exploitation by maliciously crafted documents. 29 separate vulnerabilities are covered, and the firm also announced improved updating systems to be included in its latest product lines.
Meanwhile,
Mozilla
has announced a new system to allow users of its
Firefox
web browser to keep track of their plug-ins, alerting the user when a plug-in is in need of updating. The system is due to be rolled into
Firefox
as an automated system soon.
Full details of the patches issued are at
Microsoft
here
and at
Adobe
here
. Comment on the release can be read on the
SophosLabs
blog
here
or at
F-Secure
here
, and the
SANS
Handler’s Diary overview is
here
.
The Register
has more information about the improvements to
Adobe
updating
here
.
A summary of the
Firefox
plug-in checker system is on Brian Krebs’
Washington Post
blog
here
or in
The Register
here
, with official details from
Mozilla
here
.
Posted on 16 October 2009 by
Virus Bulletin
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