Microsoft, Adobe Push out Security Patches

Microsoft and Adobe Systems pushed out security updates today to address vulnerabilities in their products.

In the case of Adobe, the update comes in the form of a security hotfix for ColdFusion 10 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh and UNIX. According to Adobe, the update resolves a vulnerability that could result in a Denial of Service condition. The company said it is not aware of any active attacks targeting the issue.

On the Microsoft front, the company as expected released two security bulletins to address issues in Visual Studio Team Foundation Server and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager. If successfully exploited, the Visual studio vulnerability could enable an attacker to escalate privileges if they convince a victim to click on a malicious link or otherwise visit a malicious site.

The same is true of the other vulnerability, which can also allow attackers to elevate privileges.

“Both of these bulletins are pretty low risk to most organizations; however, employees should never be allowed to browse the Internet or check email from servers that this software could reside on,” said Marcus Carey, security researcher at Rapid7. “To be able to exploit these vulnerabilities, an attacker would craft a malicious link for a victim to click on, allowing them to compromise the victim’s system. It’s always a good idea to educate employees/ end-users on how to spot and avoid suspect links.”

In order to prioritize their patching for this month, administrators should asses their servers and prioritize accordingly to their software setup, blogged Jason Miller, manager of research and development at VMware.

“With the break administrators are getting this month, it presents the perfect opportunity to use the free time to test the Microsoft Security Advisory update KB2661254,” he added. “This non-security update was released last month to the Microsoft Download Center.  During the October 2012 Patch Tuesday, Microsoft will be moving this patch to mainstream availability in Windows Update and WSUS.  This patch has the possibility of crippling business applications that utilize digital certificates less than 1024 bits in length.”