Microsoft Security Bulletin Overview February 2011

Microsoft has just enabled downloads for today's security patches on Windows Update.

Today's Patch Day brings 12 security bulletins that fix vulnerabilities of various severity affecting the Microsoft Windows operating system, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office.

Three of the vulnerabilities have a maximum severity rating of critical, the highest possible rating. The remaining 11 have a maximum severity rating of important.

Windows users can check for the updates by opening Windows Update which is linked from the Windows start menu. There it is possible to check for new updates which needs to be done if the PC has been running for some time today.

The security bulletin summary for February 2011 offers in depth information about the updates and the affected applications.

All individual security bulletins are listed and linked below as well.

• MS11-003 - Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (2482017) - This security update resolves two privately reported vulnerabilities and two publicly disclosed vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer. The vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted Web page using Internet Explorer or if a user opens a legitimate HTML file that loads a specially crafted library file. 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.
• MS11-006 - Vulnerability in Windows Shell Graphics Processing Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2483185) - This security update resolves a publicly disclosed vulnerability in the Windows Shell graphics processor. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted thumbnail image. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the logged-on 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.
• MS11-007 - Vulnerability in the OpenType Compact Font Format (CFF) Driver Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2485376) - This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in the Windows OpenType Compact Font Format (CFF) driver. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user views content rendered in a specially crafted CFF font. In all cases, an attacker would have no way to force users to view the specially crafted content. Instead, an attacker would have to convince users to visit a 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.
• MS11-004 - Vulnerability in Internet Information Services (IIS) FTP Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2489256) - This security update resolves a publicly disclosed vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) FTP Service. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if an FTP server receives a specially crafted FTP command. FTP Service is not installed by default on IIS.
• MS11-005 - Vulnerability in Active Directory Could Allow Denial of Service (2478953) - This security update resolves a publicly disclosed vulnerability in Active Directory. The vulnerability could allow denial of service if an attacker sent a specially crafted packet to an affected Active Directory server. The attacker must have valid local administrator privileges on the domain-joined computer in order to exploit this vulnerability.
• MS11-008 - Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Visio Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2451879) - This security update resolves two privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Visio. The vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted Visio file. An attacker who successfully exploited either of these vulnerabilities could gain the same user rights as the logged-on 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.
• MS11-009 - Vulnerability in JScript and VBScript Scripting Engines Could Allow Information Disclosure (2475792) - This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in the JScript and VBScript scripting engines. The vulnerability could allow information disclosure if a user visited a specially crafted Web site. An attacker would have no way to force users to visit these Web sites. Instead, an attacker would have to convince 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.
• MS11-010 - Vulnerability in Windows Client/Server Run-time Subsystem Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (2476687) - This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in the Microsoft Windows Client/Server Run-time Subsystem (CSRSS) in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. The vulnerability could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker logs on to a user's system and starts a specially crafted application that continues running after the attacker logs off in order to obtain the logon credentials of subsequent users. An attacker must have valid logon credentials and be able to log on locally to exploit this vulnerability. The vulnerability could not be exploited remotely or by anonymous users.
• MS11-011 - Vulnerabilities in Windows Kernel Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (2393802) - This security update resolves one publicly disclosed vulnerability and one privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerabilities could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker logged on locally and ran a specially crafted application. An attacker must have valid logon credentials and be able to log on locally to exploit these vulnerabilities. The vulnerabilities could not be exploited remotely or by anonymous users.
• MS11-012 - Vulnerabilities in Windows Kernel-Mode Drivers Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (2479628) - This security update resolves five privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerabilities could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker logged on locally and ran a specially crafted application. An attacker must have valid logon credentials and be able to log on locally to exploit these vulnerabilities. The vulnerabilities could not be exploited remotely or by anonymous users.
• MS11-013 - Vulnerabilities in Kerberos Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (2496930) - This security update resolves one privately reported vulnerability and one publicly disclosed vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The more severe of these vulnerabilities could allow elevation of privilege if a local, authenticated attacker installs a malicious service on a domain-joined computer.
• MS11-014 - Vulnerability in Local Security Authority Subsystem Service Could Allow Local Elevation of Privilege (2478960) - This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS) in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.The vulnerability could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker logs on to a system and runs a specially crafted application. An attacker must have valid logon credentials and be able to log on locally to exploit this vulnerability. The vulnerability could not be exploited remotely or by anonymous users.

The updates can also be downloaded directly and individually from the Microsoft Download Center. Check out our detailed Windows Update guide for additional information and tips.