Microsoft to issue cursor flaw patch early

[Marc57]

Microsoft said Sunday night that it is planning to make available this week a patch for a Windows flaw that has already been used in an attack.


http://news.com.com/Microsoft+to+issue+cursor+flaw+patch+early/2100-1002_3-6172364.html?tag=html.alert

[DavidR]

That's handy as there are by all accounts lots of exploits out there, avast added numerous win32:ani- signatures in todays VPS update and over the last few days.

[.: Mac :.]

Good work, Im glad to see Microsoft responding quickly

[Marc57]

Good work, Im glad to see Microsoft responding quickly

Not so Quickly, They've admitted to knowing about this flaw since Dec. of last year. If they're going to claim that Vista is so secure, They're going to have to patch this stuff faster.


http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/archive/2007/03/30/update-on-microsoft-security-advisory-935423.aspx#Vulnerability

[polonus]

Hi marc57,

Cannot it be that we have to give the “Microsoft Tuesday” initiative another year or so before it collapses under the pressure of 3rd party patches.
As we know that this ridiculously simple stack overflow in the non-checked second part of the ANI-header was around since the days of Windows 3.1, that is prehistoric times in computer terms, what could be laying in wait for us, which make my assumption not so far fetched. As you are building code on code, and never came up with a general overhaul, we know where the "big hole" is.

polonus

[drhayden1]

isn't there another thread for this already guys-not trying to be rude or anything but just me
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=27500.0

[Marc57]

Hi marc57,

Cannot it be that we have to give the “Microsoft Tuesday” initiative another year or so before it collapses under the pressure of 3rd party patches.
As we know that this ridiculously simple stack overflow in the non-checked second part of the ANI-header was around since the days of Windows 3.1, that is prehistoric times in computer terms, what could be laying in wait for us, which make my assumption not so far fetched. As you are building code on code, and never came up with a general overhaul, we know where the "big hole" is.

polonus

Agreed polonus,  I think Microsofts biggest problem is that they have to wait for someone from OUTSIDE the company to tell them about these flaws.  if they were serious about security, they would use some of the billions they have to hire Hackers, by the hundreds if necessary, to do nothing but try to break into their software so they could issue these patches AS SOON AS POSSIBLE so as to not leave their customers exposed, waiting until the second Tuesday of the month.


While I think it's great there are third party patches out, It's still Microsofts responsibility to make sure their software is safe.

[Lisandro]

I agree that Tuesday patch is a bad policy as they could release some of the patches earlier.
I agree that they have a long journey to 'learn' what security is.

[FreewheelinFrank]

Why is Microsoft hell-bent on ruining their reputation?

Microsoft had multiple chances to release a patch for the ANI (Animated Cursor) Exploit in the months of January, February, and March but failed to release any patches for the vulnerability that was originally disclosed privately to Microsoft on December 20 2006.  Now we're getting an emergency patch today one week before the regular patch cycle and Microsoft seems to think that this is a success story on their "quick" response to this zero-day exploit.  Here's what an MSRC blog has to say:

    "I’m sure one question in people’s minds is how we’re able to release an update for this issue so quickly"

Um no not really, the question on my mind is why has it taken Microsoft three and a half month to patch a vulnerability that was disclosed to them in secret, wait until after the vulnerability is being exploited in the wild, wait until after a third party comes out with a third party patch, and wait until after this became a public relations nightmare to come out with an out-of-band patch.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=460

[Marc57]

A very good read, Thanks FWF.