Microsoft Security Bulletins For May 2012 Released

It is patch Tuesday in Redmond, and Microsoft has just made available a new batch of security related patches for some of their software products. The majority of security bulletins fix issues in the Microsoft Windows operating system and Microsoft Office, while some address issues in the Microsoft .Net Framework and Microsoft Silverlight.

Three bulletins have received a maximum severity rating of critical, while the remaining four a rating of important. When you look at the deployment priority, you will notice that Microsoft recommends to deploy the critical bulletin before the important ones.

Security Bulletins For May 2012

• MS12-029 - Vulnerability in Microsoft Word Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2680352) - This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Office. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted RTF file. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the current 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.
• MS12-034 - Combined Security Update for Microsoft Office, Windows, .NET Framework, and Silverlight (2681578) - This security update resolves three publicly disclosed vulnerabilities and seven privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office, Microsoft Windows, the Microsoft .NET Framework, and Microsoft Silverlight. The most severe of these vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted document or visits a malicious webpage that embeds TrueType font files. An attacker would have no way to force users to visit a malicious website. Instead, an attacker would have to convince users to visit the website, typically by getting them to click a link in an email message or Instant Messenger message that takes them to the attacker's website.
• MS12-035 - Vulnerabilities in .NET Framework Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2693777) - This security update resolves two privately reported vulnerabilities in the .NET Framework. The vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution on a client system if a user views a specially crafted webpage using a web browser that can run XAML Browser Applications (XBAPs). 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.
• MS12-030 - Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2663830) - This security update resolves one publicly disclosed and five privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office. The vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted Office file. An attacker who successfully exploited 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.
• MS12-031 - Vulnerability in Microsoft Visio Viewer 2010 Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2597981) - This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Office. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted Visio file. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the current 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.
• MS12-032 - Vulnerability in TCP/IP Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (2688338) - This security update resolves one privately reported and one publicly disclosed vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The more severe of these vulnerabilities could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker logs on to a system and runs a specially crafted application.
• MS12-033 - Vulnerability in Windows Partition Manager Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (2690533) - This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. 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.

Deployment

The updates are already available on Windows Update, from where they can be downloaded and installed on the operating system. Security updates are not yet available on Microsoft's Download Center. Windows users who want to download the updates to their local PC, for instance for testing and distribution will find the updates listed there later this evening.

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