 Microsoft Confirms Wmf Vulnerability |
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 Dec 30 2005, 03:46 PM
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Premium Member  Group: Members Posts: 352 Joined: 2-March 05 From: Australia Member No.: 2,859  |
Microsoft has issued a Security Advisory (912840) on 28 Dec.
It concerns the recent WMF vulnerability exploit. Microsoft also gave a temp solution to protect your PC until they issue a patch. It's a good idea to use this before the patch comes out. The following is a quote from the Microsoft Security Advisory. QUOTE Un-register the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer (Shimgvw.dll) 1. Click Start, click Run, type "regsvr32 -u %windir%\system32\shimgvw.dll" (without the quotation marks), and then click OK. 2. A dialog box appears to confirm that the un-registration process has succeeded. Click OK to close the dialog box. Impact of Workaround: The Windows Picture and Fax Viewer will no longer be started when users click on a link to an image type that is associated with the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. To undo this change, re-register Shimgvw.dll by following the above steps. Replace the text in Step 1 with “regsvr32 %windir%\system32\shimgvw.dll” (without the quotation marks). P.S. WMF is an image format that store both vector and bitmap data in the same file. If you use IE and visit a site that contains an infected WMF image, you will get infected immediately. However, if you use Firefox or some other browser, you are safe. |
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Dec 31 2005, 11:44 AM
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Member [ Level 1 ] Group: Members Posts: 40 Joined: 16-December 05 Member No.: 10,140 |
QUOTE(jedipi @ Dec 31 2005, 12:46 AM) if you use Firefox or some other browser, you are safe. This is a Windows vulnerability, not an IE vulnerability. Unfortunately, the fact that you are using Firefox or Opera does not make you automatically pure-white and clean, if you do not take the necessary precautions as should be taken with any other case. Do not open, download files from untrustful sources. Do not click on "OK" without giving a moment to think over. That's all you need. |
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 Jan 3 2006, 06:38 AM
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Premium Member Group: Members Posts: 243 Joined: 20-January 05 From: Bombay, INDIA Member No.: 2,231 |
Actually a number of security experts including the famous Steve Gibson (creator of Shields-Up!) are saying that merely de-registering the shimgvw.dll file isn't quite enough especially for users of the older Win 9x / Win ME OS.
Another user, Ilfak Guilfanov has written a patch that effectively neutralises the threat in a safe and easy to use manner. Details here Another good thing is that in case, the patch doesn't work, one can easily uninstall it by going to the CONTROL PANEL > ADD / REMOVE PROGRAMS applet and picking the Windows WMF Metafile Vulnerability HotFix as the prog to uninstall. Note that a reboot is required to render this patch effective ! |
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Jan 4 2006, 05:31 AM
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#4
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Premium Member Group: Members Posts: 352 Joined: 2-March 05 From: Australia Member No.: 2,859 |
After a week, Microsoft has announced that it will
test the patch with plans to release it on Tuesday, January 10th as a part of it's routine monthly security bulletins. http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/...ory/912840.mspx SANS / The Internet Storm Center are releasing a patch for this problem. You can download it here (msi). anyway, this patch is un-official, and is not endorsed by Microsoft. use it with your own risk. |
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Jan 6 2006, 07:19 AM
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#5
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Premium Member Group: Members Posts: 243 Joined: 20-January 05 From: Bombay, INDIA Member No.: 2,231 |
The official patch from Microsoft to combat and plug the hole in the shimgvw.dll exploit is here. It was released five days before the initially scheduled date of 10 JAN, the regular patch-Tuesday for MS products.
Link here To all who have already installed the previously mentioned un-official patch, please uninstall it from the Control Panel Add / Remove Programs applet and proceed to install this official patch. |
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Jan 7 2006, 05:20 AM
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#6
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Premium Member Group: Members Posts: 352 Joined: 2-March 05 From: Australia Member No.: 2,859 |
this vulnerability is rated critical for Windows XP,
Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003. but non crical for Windows 98 and Me, therefore Microsoft will notwon't release any patch for this. anyway, someone has released a unofficial patch for windows 98 and me. you can download it here. http://www.nod32.ch/en/download/tools.php |
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Jan 10 2006, 05:53 PM
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#7
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Newbie [ Level 1 ] Group: Members Posts: 1 Joined: 10-January 06 Member No.: 10,620 |
QUOTE The software giant finished up testing on the official patch for the vulnerability in the Windows Meta File (WMF) format on Thursday and began releasing the fix though Windows Update and its download sites around 2 p.m. PST. Microsoft released the patch as security professionals started to take the software giant to task for what they perceive as a slow response to a critical security issue. The flaw in the WMF format concerned many security experts over the holidays because the vulnerability can be exploited in Internet Explorer by serving up specially-crafted images from a malicious Web site. The Mozilla Corporation's Firefox browser does not immediately run code but reportedly asks permission to display the malicious images. Microsoft originally announced on Tuesday that, while a patch had been created for the issue, it would not be released until January 10 so that it could be further tested. "The development and testing teams have put forth a considerable effort to address this issue and respond to the strong customer sentiment that the release should be made available as soon as possible," the software giant said in a statement sent to SecurityFocus. An unofficial patch for the problem had been released by software developer Ilfak Guilfanov and had encountered enormous demand after security experts vetted the patch and declared it a good solution. According to the SANS Institutes's Internet Storm Center, the patch released by Microsoft uses essentially the same tactic as Guilfanov's patch but whereas Microsoft could recompile the affected module with the fix, Guilfanov could not. At least one report of network printing problems caused by the Guilfanov's patch surfaced on Wednesday. |
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Jan 12 2006, 06:09 AM
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#8
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Premium Member Group: Members Posts: 352 Joined: 2-March 05 From: Australia Member No.: 2,859 |
Just days after Microsoft patched the critical vulnerability in WMF,
another two new flaws that affect WMF were found by a hacker . The hacker, “concoruder”, posted the new vulnerabilities to the Bugtraq security mailing list on Monday. Those two new WMF ulnerabilities are not as serious as the one patched last week. They would crash any WMF-viewing software, such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer. And they can be found in the following OS * Windows XP SP2, *Windows XP SP1 * Windows Server 2003 SP1 * Windows Server 2003 * Windows ME * Windows 98se * Windows 98 * Windows 2000 SP4 Source: http://msgs.securepoint.com/cgi-bin/get/bugtraq0601/90.html |
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