As mentioned in the advanced notification, this month there are seven security bulletins addressing twenty three vulnerabilities:
The following table summarises the security bulletins for this month in order of severity.
Bulletin ID |
Bulletin Title and Executive Summary |
Maximum Severity Rating and Vulnerability Impact |
Restart Requirement |
Affected Software |
MS12-036 | Vulnerability in Remote Desktop Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2685939)This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in the Remote Desktop Protocol. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if an attacker sends a sequence of specially crafted RDP packets to an affected system. By default, the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is not enabled on any Windows operating system. Systems that do not have RDP enabled are not at risk. |
Critical Remote Code Execution |
Requires restart | Microsoft Windows |
MS12-037 | Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (2699988)This security update resolves one publicly disclosed and twelve privately reported vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer. The most severe vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted webpage using Internet Explorer. An attacker who successfully exploited any of these vulnerabilities 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. |
Critical Remote Code Execution |
Requires restart | Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer |
MS12-038 | Vulnerability in .NET Framework Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2706726)This security update resolves one privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft .NET Framework. The vulnerability 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. The vulnerability could also be used by Windows .NET applications to bypass Code Access Security (CAS) restrictions. In a web browsing attack scenario, an attacker could host a website that contains a webpage that is used to exploit this vulnerability. In addition, compromised websites and websites that accept or host user-provided content or advertisements could contain specially crafted content that could exploit this vulnerability. In all cases, however, an attacker would have no way to force users to visit these websites. 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 users to the attacker’s website. |
Critical Remote Code Execution |
May require restart | Microsoft Windows, Microsoft .NET Framework |
MS12-039 | Vulnerabilities in Lync Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2707956)This security update resolves one publicly disclosed vulnerability and three privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Lync. The most severe vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user views shared content that contains specially crafted TrueType fonts. |
Important Remote Code Execution |
May require restart | Microsoft Lync |
MS12-040 | Vulnerability in Microsoft Dynamics AX Enterprise Portal Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (2709100)This security update resolves one privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Dynamics AX Enterprise Portal. The vulnerability could allow elevation of privilege if a user clicks a specially crafted URL or visits a specially crafted website. In an email attack scenario, an attacker could exploit the vulnerability by sending an email message that contains the specially crafted URL to the user of the targeted Microsoft Dynamics AX Enterprise Portal site and by convincing the user to click the specially crafted URL. Internet Explorer 8 and Internet Explorer 9 users browsing to a Microsoft Dynamics AX Enterprise Portal site in the Internet Zone are at a reduced risk. By default, the XSS Filter in Internet Explorer 8 and Internet Explorer 9 prevents this attack in the Internet Zone. However, the XSS Filter in Internet Explorer 8 and Internet Explorer 9 is not enabled by default in the Intranet Zone. |
Important Elevation of Privilege |
May require restart | Microsoft Dynamics AX |
MS12-041 | Vulnerabilities in Windows Kernel-Mode Drivers Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (2709162)This security update resolves five privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerabilities 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 any of these vulnerabilities. |
Important Elevation of Privilege |
Requires restart | Microsoft Windows |
MS12-042 | Vulnerabilities in Windows Kernel Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (2711167)This security update resolves one privately reported vulnerability and one publicly disclosed vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerabilities could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker logs on to an affected system and runs a specially crafted application that exploits the vulnerability. 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. |
Important Elevation of Privilege |
Requires restart | Microsoft Windows |
The following link shows the Microsoft recommended Bulletin Deployment Priority and Severity and Exploitability Index
In summary, we are likely to see updates requiring reboots of servers this month. As usual, as a UKFast customer, you will benefit from these updates being applied automatically unless you have opted out of this service.