Computer Associates Africa has urged its South African Microsoft customers to urgently conduct a vulnerability assessment of their systems and immediately deploy the relevant patches. This follows Microsoft`s release, earlier this week, of information and patches regarding 20 security vulnerabilities, eight of which are both critical and associated with remote execution.
The severity of this announcement is that remote code execution enables attackers to take control of vulnerable systems. In many cases these vulnerabilities can be exploited through a tool as simple as to construct as malicious e-mail or web pages.
CA recommends users visit its Vulnerability Information Center at http://www3.ca.com/threatinfo/vulninfo/ for operating system (OS) specific advice and remediation.
Additionally, the Microsoft web site http://www.microsoft.com/security/security_bulletins/200404_windows.asp and several OS features contain useful tools and mechanisms for ensuring safety. Users of older Microsoft OSs should also to take advantage of web-based tools from Microsoft, CA or other respected security vendors.
Applying patches or other vendor-prescribed remediation in a timely manner greatly reduces the risk of exploitation by a would-be attacker or fast-spreading worms.
"Since many of these issues are previously undisclosed, it may take a few days or weeks for attackers to develop exploit code and other forms of malware," comments Danny Ilic, business technologist (enterprise management and security) at Computer Associates Africa.
"We are already seeing widespread exploitation in the wild of the Outlook Express mhtml vulnerability, and could soon see exploitation of the other vulnerabilities. With a shrinking window from introduction to exploitation, CA is urging Microsoft customers to proactively scan and update their systems."
The largest patch, MS04-011, fixes at least 14 security flaws. A security hole in the Help and Support Center affects both Windows 2003 and Windows XP. Another flaw in the Windows Meta File image format could allow an attacker to create a digital picture file that could take control of a Windows NT, 2000 or XP computer. At least six of the 14 flaws could result in a remote user taking control of a Windows computer.
Share
Editorial contacts