Microsoft Security Updates May 2010

The Microsoft security updates for May 2010 are now available for download and installation. The patches are available on Windows Update where users can install them directly on affected systems or by downloading patches individually from Microsoft's Download Center.

Microsoft has released a total of two security bulletins that fix vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office and Microsoft Visual Basic.

The maximum severity rating has been set to critical. The critical rating applies only to some operating systems and applications.

The vulnerabilities in both bulletins can be exploited to execute code remotely on affected operating systems and applications.

• MS10-030 - Vulnerability in Outlook Express and Windows Mail Could Allow Remote Code Execution (978542) - This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Outlook Express, Windows Mail, and Windows Live Mail. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user visits a malicious e-mail server. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability 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.
• MS10-031 - Vulnerability in Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications Could Allow Remote Code Execution (978213) - This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a host application opens and passes a specially crafted file to the Visual Basic for Applications runtime. If a user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker who successfully exploited 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. 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.

The security patches can be downloaded via Windows Update, Microsoft Update and the individual security bulletin pages.

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