Microsoft Fixes Nine Vulnerabilities In July Patch

Microsoft on Tuesday released six security bulletins addressing nine different vulnerabilities in its software as part of its monthly patch cycle.

The July crop of patches includes three bulletins designated "critical" and three bulletins designated "important."

Affected software includes Windows, Microsoft Office, Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server, Virtual PC and Virtual Server.

Two of the "critical" bulletins address vulnerabilities in the Microsoft's Video ActiveX Control and DirectShow component. Microsoft warned customers about these "browse-and-get-owned" vulnerabilities in July and May, respectively.

"Today's release is important because patches were released for two recent zero-day attacks -- a QuickTime file parsing vulnerability and the recently announced DirectShow vulnerability," said Eric Schultze, CTO of Shavlik. "Both vulnerabilities are reported as being actively exploited on the Internet."

The third "critical" bulletin provides a fix for a vulnerability in the Embedded OpenType Font Engine, which is used in all versions of Windows, including Vista and Windows Server 2008.

On Monday, Microsoft issued a Security Advisory about a vulnerability in Office Web Components Spreadsheet ActiveX software. No fix for this vulnerability was included in Microsoft's July patch, though the company has provided Fit-It link that disables the vulnerable component as a workaround.

The "important" bulletins include a vulnerability in Microsoft proxy server ISA 2006. "As administrator usernames are often easy to guess this vulnerability deserves special attention, if IT organizations are using ISA with the Radius configuration," said Qualys CTO Wolfgang Kandek in an e-mailed statement.

The second "important" bulletin covers a vulnerability in the Publisher component of Office 2007. And the third fixes a privilege elevation flaw in Virtual PC and Virtual Server.

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