Microsoft patches 11 vulnerabilities

Today Microsoft released three security bulletins which address 11 vulnerabilities affecting Microsoft Office and Microsoft Forefront Unified Access Gateway. Of note, only one of the 11 vulnerabilities is rated Critical and Microsoft has not seen active attacks seeking to exploit any of the vulnerabilities.

To learn more about patching challenges and techniques read our interview with Qualys CTO Wolfgang Kandek who offers his extensive knowledge on the subject.

Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office could allow remote code execution
This security update resolves one publicly disclosed vulnerability and four privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office. The most severe vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user opens or previews a specially crafted RTF e-mail message. An attacker who successfully exploited any of these vulnerabilities could gain the same user rights as the local user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.

Vulnerabilities in Microsoft PowerPoint could allow remote code execution
This security update resolves two privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office that could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted PowerPoint file. An attacker who successfully exploited any of these vulnerabilities could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.

Vulnerabilities in Forefront Unified Access Gateway (UAG) could allow elevation of privilege
This security update resolves four privately reported vulnerabilities in Forefront Unified Access Gateway (UAG). The most severe of these vulnerabilities could allow elevation of privilege if a user visits an affected Web site using a specially crafted URL. However, an attacker would have no way to force users to visit such a Web site. Instead, an attacker would have to persuade users to visit the Web site, typically by getting them to click a link in an e-mail message or Instant Messenger message that takes users to the attacker’s Web site.