Microsoft September 2009 Black Tuesday Overview

Published: 2009-09-08. Last Updated: 2009-09-09 16:04:53 UTC
by Guy Bruneau (Version: 1)
3 comment(s)

Overview of the September 2009 Microsoft patches and their status.

# Affected Contra Indications Known Exploits Microsoft rating ISC rating(*)
clients servers
MS09-045

Request handling vulnerability leads to a remote code execution.
Replaces MS06-023 for MS Windows 2000 SP4

JScript Scripting Engine
CVE-2009-1920
 KB 971961 No known exploits Severity:Critical
Exploitability:1
Critical Critical
 MS09-046 A vulnerability exist in DHTML Editing Component ActiveX Control.
DHTML Editing Component
CVE-2009-2519
KB 956844  No known exploits Severity:Critical
Exploitability:2
Critical Important
MS09-047

This vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user opened a specially crafted media file.
Replaces MS08-076 for MS Windows Media Services 2008

Windows Media Format
CVE-2009-2499
CVE-2009-2498

KB 973812

No known exploits Severity:Critical
Exploitability:1,1
Critical Critical
MS09-048 Vulnerabilities exist in Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) processing.

Windows TCP/IP
CVE-2008-4609
CVE-2009-1925
CVE-2009-1926 

KB 967723 No known exploits Severity:Critical
Exploitability:3,2,3
Critical Critical
 MS09-049 A vulnerability in Wireless LAN AutoConfig Service.

 Wireless LAN AutoConfig Service
CVE-2009-1132


KB 970710 No known exploits. Severity:Important
Exploitability:2
Critical Critical
We will update issues on this page for about a week or so as they evolve.
We appreciate updates
US based customers can call Microsoft for free patch related support on 1-866-PCSAFETY
(*): ISC rating
  • We use 4 levels:
    • PATCH NOW: Typically used where we see immediate danger of exploitation. Typical environments will want to deploy these patches ASAP. Workarounds are typically not accepted by users or are not possible. This rating is often used when typical deployments make it vulnerable and exploits are being used or easy to obtain or make.
    • Critical: Anything that needs little to become "interesting" for the dark side. Best approach is to test and deploy ASAP. Workarounds can give more time to test.
    • Important: Things where more testing and other measures can help.
    • Less Urgent: Typically we expect the impact if left unpatched to be not that big a deal in the short term. Do not forget them however.
  • The difference between the client and server rating is based on how you use the affected machine. We take into account the typical client and server deployment in the usage of the machine and the common measures people typically have in place already. Measures we presume are simple best practices for servers such as not using outlook, MSIE, word etc. to do traditional office or leisure work.
  • The rating is not a risk analysis as such. It is a rating of importance of the vulnerability and the perceived or even predicted threat for affected systems. The rating does not account for the number of affected systems there are. It is for an affected system in a typical worst-case role.
  • Only the organization itself is in a position to do a full risk analysis involving the presence (or lack of) affected systems, the actually implemented measures, the impact on their operation and the value of the assets involved.
  • All patches released by a vendor are important enough to have a close look if you use the affected systems. There is little incentive for vendors to publicize patches that do not have some form of risk to them

(**): If installed.

(***): Critical of ISA servers

Update 1: All KB and CVE links have been updated

Guy Bruneau IPSS Inc. gbruneau at isc dot sans dot org

3 comment(s)

Comments

I think you got the criticality on MS09-048 backwards. If you're running Server 2008, there's a possibility of remote code execution without any authentication if you have any TCP ports open (most servers will have at least one port open, and RCE means wormable . . .). Also, the DoS attack that Server 2003 is vulnerable to appears to be merely preventing new inbound TCP connections, and that's more likely to cause problems for a server administrator than a workstation user.

I am a bit miffed that Microsoft isn't releasing an update for XP even though it sounds like it's just as vulnerable to the DoS attacks as the other OSes. Their excuse is that XP SP2/SP3 ships without any exceptions in the firewall, therefore a fix isn't required. But the minute you install anything that requires a firewall exception, the vulnerability rears its ugly head (and I smack mine). That said, at least it appears to be a relatively benign DoS vulnerability, not one that triggers a BSOD.
MS09-047 has the wrong KB #.
I think you want KB973812. (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973812)
So is anyone going to release/create an XP patch manually, that the SANS would be willing to vet?

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