Microsoft security alert.

Advisory overview

Qualys Vulnerability R&D Lab has released new vulnerability checks in the Enterprise TruRisk Platform to protect organizations against 2 vulnerabilities that were fixed in 2 bulletins announced today by Microsoft. Customers can immediately audit their networks for these and other new vulnerabilities by accessing their Qualys subscription. Visit Qualys Security Blog to prioritize remediation.

Non-Qualys customers can audit their network for these and other vulnerabilities by signing up for a Qualys Free Trial, or by trying Qualys Community Edition.

Vulnerability details

Microsoft has released 2 security bulletins to fix newly discovered flaws in their software. Qualys has released the following checks for these new vulnerabilities:

• Microsoft Outlook Express and Windows Mail Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (MS10-030)

  Severity

  Critical 4

  Qualys ID

  90602

  Vendor Reference

  MS10-030

  CVE Reference

  CVE-2010-0816

  CVSS Scores

  Base 9.3 / Temporal 7.3

  Description

  Windows Mail (formerly Outlook Express) is an online communication tool for use with Windows.

  Windows Mail is prone to a vulnerability is caused when a common library used by Outlook Express and Windows Mail insufficiently validates network data before using that data to calculate the necessary size of a buffer. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user visits a malicious email server.

  Microsoft has released a security update that addresses the vulnerability by correctly validating email server responses. The security update is rated Critical for Microsoft Outlook Express on all supported editions of Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003; and for Windows Mail on all supported editions of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. The security update is rated Important for Windows Live Mail on all supported editions of Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2; and for Windows Mail on all supported editions of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

  Windows Embedded Systems:- For additional information regarding security updates for embedded systems, refer to the following MSDN blog(s):

  June 2010 Security Updates are Available on ECE for Standard 09and XP Embedded (KB978542, 978542)
  May 2010 Security Updates for XPe\Standard 2009 are Finally Available on ECE (KB978542, 978542)
  Updates for Windows Embedded Standard 7 Are Now Available (KB978542)
  

  Consequence

  An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability 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.

  Solution

  Patch:
  Following are links for downloading patches to fix the vulnerabilities:

  Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 (Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5 Service Pack 2)

  Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 (Microsoft Outlook Express 6 Service Pack 1)

  Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Windows XP Service Pack 3 (Microsoft Outlook Express 6)

  Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Windows XP Service Pack 3 (Windows Live Mail)

  Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2 (Microsoft Outlook Express 6)

  Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2 (Windows Live Mail)

  Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (Microsoft Outlook Express 6)

  Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition Service Pack 2 (Microsoft Outlook Express 6)

  Windows Server 2003 with SP2 for Itanium-based Systems (Microsoft Outlook Express 6)

  Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (Windows Mail)

  Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (Windows Live Mail)

  Windows Vista x64 Edition Service Pack 1 and Windows Vista x64 Edition Service Pack 2 (Windows Mail)

  Windows Vista x64 Edition Service Pack 1 and Windows Vista x64 Edition Service Pack 2 (Windows Live Mail)

  Windows Server 2008 for 32-bit Systems and Windows Server 2008 for 32-bit Systems Service Pack 2 (Windows Mail)

  Windows Server 2008 for 32-bit Systems and Windows Server 2008 for 32-bit Systems Service Pack 2 (Windows Live Mail)

  Windows Server 2008 for x64-based Systems and Windows Server 2008 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 2 (Windows Mail)

  For a complete list of patch download links, please refer to Microsoft Security Bulletin MS10-030.

  Workaround:
  Use web-based email instead of IMAP or POP3 to check email.

• Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (MS10-031)

  Severity

  Critical 4

  Qualys ID

  110121

  Vendor Reference

  MS10-031

  CVE Reference

  CVE-2010-0815

  CVSS Scores

  Base 9.3 / Temporal 7.7

  Description

  Microsoft VBA is a development technology for developing client desktop packaged applications and integrating them with existing data and systems. Microsoft VBA is based on the Microsoft Visual Basic development system. Microsoft Office products include VBA and make use of VBA to perform certain functions. VBA can also be used to build customized applications around an existing host application.

  A stack-based memory corruption vulnerability exists in VBE6.dll . The vulnerability is caused by the way that VBA searches for ActiveX controls in a document that supports VBA. As a result, it is possible for a host application, such as Microsoft Office or a third-party application developed for Visual Basic programmability, to pass a specially crafted document with embedded ActiveX controls to the VBA runtime creating a condition that could allow arbitrary code to be run.

  Microsoft has released a security update that addresses this vulnerability by modifying the way that Visual Basic for Applications searches for ActiveX Controls embedded in documents.

  Consequence

  Successfully exploiting this vulnerability might allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code.

  Solution

  Patch:
  Following are links for downloading patches to fix the vulnerabilities:

  Microsoft Office XP Service Pack 3

  Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 3

  2007 Microsoft Office System Service Pack 1 and 2007 Microsoft Office System Service Pack 2

  Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications

  Refer to Microsoft Security Bulletin MS10-031 for further details.

  Workaround:
  1) Disable ActiveX controls in the 2007 Microsoft Office System

  Impact of workaround #1: Embedded ActiveX controls (such as macros) will not run in Office documents.

  2) Restrict access to VBE6.dll

  Impact of workaround #2: Embedded ActiveX controls (such as macros) will not run in Office documents. For instance, users will be unable to insert objects into Office documents.

  3) Use the Microsoft Office Isolated Conversion Environment (MOICE) when opening files from unknown or un-trusted sources because it protects Office 2003 installations by more securely opening Word, Excel, and PowerPoint binary format files. Information on MOICE can be found at KB935865.

  Impact of the workaround:
  Office 2003 and earlier formatted documents that are converted to the 2007 Microsoft Office System Open XML format by MOICE lose their macro functionality. Documents protected with passwords and Digital Rights Management cannot be converted.

  4) Do not open or save untursted Microsoft Office files

  Detailed information on applying the workarounds is available at Microsoft Security Bulletin MS10-031.

Access for Qualys Customers

Platforms and Platform Identification

Technical Support

For more information, customers may contact Qualys Technical Support.

About Qualys

The Enterprise TruRisk Platform and its integrated suite of security and compliance applications provides organizations of all sizes with a global view of their security and compliance solutions, while drastically reducing their total cost of ownership. Qualys solutions include: continuous monitoring, vulnerability management, policy compliance, PCI compliance, security assessment questionnaire, web application scanning, web application firewall, malware detection and SECURE Seal for security testing of web sites.