The changelog lists all the bug fixes of the latest version including changes to root certificates, an interim fix for the Transport Layer Security (TLS) Man-in-the-Middle Attack and the raising of a warning dialog if a signed application contains signed and unsigned components.

All the changes and fixes including links to further information can be accessed at the changelog page.

Users can visit the JRE download page to test their version of the Java Runtime Environment to evaluate if an update is necessary.

Users with outdated versions of the JRE can download it immediately from the download page for their operating system. The Java Runtime Environment is offered as an offline and online installer for Windows on the standard download page.

It is recommended to check the verify Java page again after the update to make sure it was applied successfully.

A total of 13 security vulnerabilities are fixed by the Java update. Attackers can use those vulnerabilities for various attacks on a computer system that can lead to privilege escalations.

Probably the easiest way to uninstall old versions of Java and to install the latest secure update is by using the third party software Java RA. Java RA can uninstall old versions of Java. Users should download the latest JRE directly from Sun and install it on their systems. Java Ra should be run after the installation as it will remove all old versions of Java while keeping the latest version installed.

List of vulnerabilities:

• The Java Runtime Environment Creates Temporary Files That Have “Guessable” File Names
• Java Runtime Environment (JRE) Buffer Overflow Vulnerabilities in Processing Image Files and Fonts

May

• Allow Applets or Java Web Start Applications to Elevate Their Privileges
• Multiple Security Vulnerabilities in Java Web Start and Java Plug-in May Allow Privilege Escalation
• The Java Runtime Environment (JRE) “Java Update” Mechanism Does Not Check the Digital Signature of the JRE that it Downloads
• A Buffer Overflow Vulnerability in the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) May Allow Privileges to be Escalated
• A Security Vulnerability in the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) Related to Deserializing Calendar Objects May Allow Privileges to be Escalated
• The Java Runtime Environment UTF-8 Decoder May Allow Multiple Representations of UTF-8 Input
• Security Vulnerability in Java Runtime Environment May Allow Applets to List the Contents of the Current User’s Home Directory
• Security Vulnerability in the Java Runtime Environment With Processing RSA Public Keys
• A Security Vulnerability in Java Runtime Environment (JRE) With Authenticating Users Through Kerberos May Lead to a Denial of Service (DoS)
• Security Vulnerabilities in the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) JAX-WS and JAXB Packages may Allow Privileges to be Escalated
• A Security Vulnerability in Java Runtime Environment (JRE) With Parsing of Zip Files May Allow Reading of Arbitrary Memory Locations
• A Security Vulnerability in the Java Runtime Environment may Allow Code Loaded From the Local Filesystem to Access LocalHost

Users who cannot install the Java update immediately should disable Java for the time being to protect their computer system from the exploits.