Light Patch Tuesday features four bulletins

For the November Patch Tuesday, Microsoft released four bulletins that fix vulnerabilities targeting Windows. One is marked as critical, two are important, and the last one is moderate.

Qualys CTO Wolfgang Kandek comments: “Interestingly, the majority of bulletins only apply to these newer versions of Windows, and XP, and 2003 users are only affected by bulletin MS11-085, which is rated important.”

Vulnerability in TCP/IP Could Allow Remote Code Execution
This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if an attacker sends a continuous flow of specially crafted UDP packets to a closed port on a target system.

Vulnerability in Windows Mail and Windows Meeting Space Could Allow Remote Code Execution
This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user opens a legitimate file (such as an .eml or .wcinv file) that is located in the same network directory as a specially crafted dynamic link library (DLL) file. Then, while opening the legitimate file, Windows Mail or Windows Meeting Space could attempt to load the DLL file and execute any code it contained.

For an attack to be successful, a user must visit an untrusted remote file system location or WebDAV share and open a legitimate file (such as an .eml or .wcinv file) from this location that is then loaded by a vulnerable application.

Vulnerability in Active Directory Could Allow Elevation of Privilege
This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Active Directory, Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM), and Active Directory Lightweight Directory Service (AD LDS). The vulnerability could allow elevation of privilege if Active Directory is configured to use LDAP over SSL (LDAPS) and an attacker acquires a revoked certificate that is associated with a valid domain account and then uses that revoked certificate to authenticate to the Active Directory domain. By default, Active Directory is not configured to use LDAP over SSL.

Vulnerability in Windows Kernel-Mode Drivers Could Allow Denial of Service
This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerability could allow denial of service if a user opens a specially crafted TrueType font file as an e-mail attachment or navigates to a network share or WebDAV location containing a specially crafted TrueType font file. For an attack to be successful, a user must visit the untrusted remote file system location or WebDAV share containing the specially crafted TrueType font file, or open the file as an e-mail attachment. In all cases, however, an attacker would have no way to force users to perform these actions. Instead, an attacker would have to persuade users to do so, typically by getting them to click a link in an e-mail message or Instant Messenger message.

To learn more about patching challenges and techniques read our interview with Wolfgang Kandek, where he offers his extensive knowledge on the subject.