Posted on 01/10/2017 9:15:57 PM PST by dayglored
Also: Edge is foiled by hyperlinks, Windows Server fails at authentication requests, and Microsoft is a $486bn company
Microsoft has begun its 2017 with the release of four updates to address security holes in Windows and Office, while Adobe has posted fixes for more than three dozen vulnerabilities in Flash and Reader.
Microsoft's January patch load includes:
"An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when Microsoft Edge does not properly enforce cross-domain policies with about:blank, which could allow an attacker to access information from one domain and inject it into another domain," Microsoft says of CVE-2017-0002.
The update will only be pushed out to Windows 10 and Server 2016.
The flaw, designated CVE-2017-0003, allows a specially crafted Word file to take control of the target system with the current user's access privileges. The vulnerability was spotted by Tony Loi of FortiGuard Labs.
Microsoft says that an attacker who sent a specially crafted authentication request to the targeted Windows (Vista through 7) or Windows Server (2008 to 2008 R2) box could trigger an automatic reset. Discovery of the flaw, CVE-2017-0004, was credited to Nicolás Economou and Laurent Gaffie from Core Security.
The Flash Player update covers 13 vulnerabilities, none of which have been actively targeted in the wild yet. Adobe is rating the fix as a critical priority for both Windows and macOS systems, as a successful exploit could allow for remote code execution. Linux systems are thought to be at lower risk for attack, but should still install the update as needed.
The Adobe Acrobat and Reader update patches up 29 CVE-listed problems, including a number of remote code execution flaws in both Windows and macOS. Adobe says it has not yet received reports of active exploits in the wild.
By the way, if you update Reader, bear in mind it comes with a little surprise: a Chrome extension that sends Adobe telemetry.
[... Links to the individual patch writeups are in the article ...]
Yeah, I just go the pop up.
Real people use notepad and set their homepage to freerepublic!
Trust me, when you read any article about security flaws in your OS, you aren’t ahead of the game. The hackers are a driven, insidious bunch who are always, always, always in the lead. It pays to exercise self-restraint wherever possible.
That Adobe patch for the Flash Player needs more work. Two different browsers will not load on certain websites.
It’s 2017, and some author somewhere is still saying “pwned”.
I had to reset IE today because YouTube Videos wouldn’t run.
Yay. More WSUS work for me /s
D00d, it's teh l33t suxxorz.
I thought Windows 10 would have solved all problems as Microsoft said it was their last operating system....
LOL
Microsoft finally got sick of competing with themselves. A lot of users are staying with WinXP, a lot more people are staying with Win7. Some folks are even sticking with Win8.1. Anyway, Microsoft's named and numbered releases are their own worst adversary, because they give people a milestone to stop at.
So if you read their announcement VERY carefully, they didn't indicate that Windows 10 was their "last operating system", exactly.... they indicated that they were going to turn Win10 into just "Windows" without a release name or number.
The patches and releases and updates and GUI changes will go on forever. But it will just be "Windows". No more named or numbered milestones along the way. Just an ever-changing, moving target. Everyone will run "Windows", and no more arguing about names or numbers, because the definition of "Windows" will just slowly morph and shift.
Whether that will be a good thing or a bad thing has yet to be determined.
I got rid of windows a while back. My last version was win7. I liked win7, but I had security concerns. Also, I didn’t want to upgrade to the newer versions as they had a host of issues, and 10 in my opinion was a huge, memory eating laundry basket (full of holes) trojan.
I went to Linux mint. I totally wiped my hard drive and installed linux mint 16. My one issue with linux mint involved pc’s with an AMD processor. It works with AMD, but MY pc’s tended to run hot and one of them warped out even. So, I managed to get my hands on a windows 8 laptop with an intel processor, and put Linux Mint 17.3 on it. I LOVE it!! You couldn’t pay me a million to go back to windows..well, you could. I’d buy a windows pc but I’d stick it in a closet.
There are 4 varieties of Linux Mint 17.3. It depends on your computer’s capabilities, and on your personal preferences as well. I like the cinnamon version, others might like the mate version or may need something lighter on the memory which they have, too. You won’t know which your favorite is until you try them out and see which works best on your particular computer.
I use an Acer with the intel processor and have absolutely NO issues. The acers I had with the AMD processor had heat issues. AMD tends to run hot so it may not be a good idea to use mint on an acer laptop, but might work like the dickens on a desktop with some extra cooling mods.
There’s a newer version out...Mint 18 but I’ve not used it and don’t have any basis to praise or criticize it for that reason. If Im not mistaken, there are parts you have to download after the initial install, so I’m thinking that if you aren’t Linux savy, stick to a version that comes with all the programs, and learn the OS first.
I know a lot of people get glib about switching, but honestly, this isn’t one of those posts. I don’t have to worry much about security updates...yes, we have them but our security problems tend to be a lot fewer, and we don’t have to keep a ton of security programs to keep our pc’s safe.
There are a couple of different ways that you can use windows programs on Linux, and if you do, you DO have those old security concerns once again. But, there are solutions for things.
You can run the two OS’s on the same hard drive and choose which system you want to use at boot, or you can make a cd of the linux os and run a live OS on any pc to see if you like it, AND you can use a live linux os to repair a virus damaged windows os...way kewl! Or you can use it to retrieve your personal files if windows gets broken and you can’t boot it. :) Or, go online to get the tools you need to fix your broken windows etc. It’s always a good idea to have a bootable linux disk on hand.
If your machine is too old for win10, you can breath new life into it using Linux,. I tend to favor the mint versons, but Ubuntu is good also. Mint is based on Ubuntu. That’s another option!
Just tossing this all out there in case some of you might have use of it.
There IS a bit of a learning curve...some things are similar, some things are done differently. The syntax and lingo are different as are the software names. Software is free too.
have fun!
There’s no need to flash anymore. Unless you have some corporate critical need for it, you are a fool for using it.
Any website that demands it, is not worth visiting IMHO.
Steven was right. Flash is a whole lot of trouble.
It's really not hard. But it's definitely different, and it can be scary at first because of unfamiliarity.
Being an old computer nerd from the 70's, I have had the opportunity to fine tune my system more than most. My setup is Mac Mini hardware configured as follows:
“It’s 2017, and some author somewhere is still saying “pwned”.”
LOL (if that’s still good to say)!
Funny how “cool” turns to “drool” and all it takes is a few short years before someone’s cool is drool.
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