[ad]
Many users are expecting a patch for the Microsoft IIS Semicolon Bug, but from the recently published bulletin by Microsoft it seems that is highly unlikely during this patch cycle.
Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification for January 2010
It seems they will only be pushing out a fairly low priority fix which is rated critical only for Windows 2000 users.
In its first Patch Tuesday of the year, Microsoft is planning to plug a Windows security hole rated critical for Windows 2000 systems. A fix for a Server Message Block protocol vulnerability is still being worked on, Microsoft says.
Microsoft is kicking off the new year with a single Windows security bulletin. The first Patch Tuesday release of 2010 will contain a fix rated “critical” for Windows 2000 users and low for others. According to Microsoft’s pre-Patch Tuesday notification, the bulletin addresses a remote code execution vulnerability, and the exploitability index—the rating system that predicts the likelihood of a successful exploit—is not high.
The single bulletin means that a fix for the SMB (Server Message Block) protocol vulnerability the company warned users about in November is not on the menu to be fixed by Jan. 12. According to Microsoft Security Program Manager Jerry Bryant, the company is still working on the issue.
The critical SMB bug we published back in November is not slated to be fixed either.
So as usual, disable public access to your SMB ports! And of course…don’t hold your breath for a fix, if we’re lucky it may get rolled into the February patch cycle.
“We are not aware of any active attacks using the exploit code that was made public for this vulnerability and continue to encourage customers to follow the guidance in the advisory which outlines best practices to help protect systems against attacks that originate outside of the enterprise perimeter,” Bryant wrote on the Microsoft Security Response Center blog.
Microsoft is also not releasing a patch for the IIS (Internet Information Services) problem reported in late December. According to Microsoft, the issue is not an actual vulnerability in IIS 6.0, but an inconsistency in how it handles semicolons that can only be exploited if IIS is configured in a vulnerable setting.
This month’s Patch Tuesday release is slated to be available at 1 p.m. EST, Jan. 12.
Not being aware of any public exploitation isn’t really a valid excuse is it? Since when do blackhats go around telling everyone exactly what they are up to?
People could and probably are getting pwned left right and center and no one will have any idea how.
They are skating around the IIS issue too, even if it’s a vulnerability caused by settings (yes settings can mitigate it) they should push out something to solve the problem (an updated config for example).
Source: eWeek
droope says
That sucks. It’s a lesson, as I’ve said before: “Do not trust your server’s security to Microsoft”.
They’ve had the chance to fix it… Perhaps they think acknowledging the bug might get them into trouble?
T2t says
It’s a case of the king with the invisible cloak… if they don’t acknowledge the problem it doesn’t exist.
And the rest of us our left to fend for ourselves. The problem is those of us that read posts like these can protect ourselves… it’s the layman that suffer for Microsofts ignorance. I feel for those network admins in small business that got stuck in that position because they happen to know a little more than others in their office.