Exploits Circulating for Latest Windows Holes 185
1sockchuck writes "Exploits are already circulating for at least two (and possibly four) of the Windows security holes addressed in Microsoft's updates on Tuesday. Several working exploits have been released for a new vulnerability in Windows Plug and Play technology, which could be used to spread a worm targeting Windows 2000 machines, according to eEye security, which has released a free scanner to help network admins identify vulnerable computers."
Registration form privacy information at eEye (Score:5, Insightful)
Why do they insist on my personal information if they aren't going to use it?
They have the ability to let me opt out of of mailing, why don't they provide an opt out for my information in the first place?
It is interesting that... (Score:5, Insightful)
Free, but not without pain (Score:3, Insightful)
Is anyone but me getting sick of these companies releasing "free" tools that require you to register for their incessant spam, phone calls, and other marketing harassment in order to download? Yes, I understand that they spent money to develop the tool, but what if I want to scan my home network? MySQL isn't too bad, at least. They have the marketing signup, should you be interested, but provide a link to download without all the crap.
[Wanders off muttering about the good old days of gopher and archie]Unless I'm mis-reading this... (Score:5, Insightful)
If that's the case, what's the problem?
Re:It is interesting that... (Score:3, Insightful)
In other news... (Score:2, Insightful)
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?dis=1
But of course, that's not newsworthy because it doesn't involve hating Microsoft. This ain't a troll; it's an attempt to show that BOTH systems have pretty lame security track records, yet all we hear about is Windows.
Look at that list above. Given 300 million clueless users running that Mandrake instead of Windows, don't you think there'd be exploits for that plenthora of holes too?
Re:Well give and take credit from Microsoft (Score:3, Insightful)
Microsoft's biggest problem really is all this integration that they do when it doesn't need to be done. Yes, it's nice that I can click on a link in an email and open a document in my browser. That's a good use of integration. But when much of the system depends on a couple of dlls that can't be upgraded without changing the whole system then that's not good at all. I think that there's a huge appeal to the F/OSS model and decoupling of software when it comes to this kind of thing.
Re:Unless I'm mis-reading this... (Score:5, Insightful)
My rant is not against MS. It's against people (supposedly people with knowledge) don't take the time to update their systems. SP2 actually improved this by trying to push the updates in the user's throats.
Re:Just Upgrade (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:It is interesting that... (Score:3, Insightful)
Evolution of language isn't a problem, but useless entropy like forgetting the meaning of an expression makes clear and effective writing more difficult. There are those of us who like to read clear and effective writing, so we wish that it were easier to do.
Re:In other news... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Just Upgrade (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:It is interesting that... (Score:3, Insightful)
Let me give you some examples of exploits (ie worms) that came out after patches: Blaster, Sasser, Nimda (MS patched this 330 days before the worm actually hit). Code Red is the only one that immediately comes to mind as a worm that hit before the patch, and even in that case, MS didn't know ahead of time that IIS was exploitable. It was 0-day.
In the case of the Plug & Play exploit, it became common knowledge *because* of the patch, which was reversed engineered to see what it fixed.
In the case of the other item, Microsoft acknowledged earlier that spyware companies were already exploiting the java proxy dll 0-day and thus created the patch.
In the first case the patch made the exploit common knowledge, in the second, the common knowledge came before the patch. So the answer to your question is: no.
Don't get me wrong, MS is getting better about patching, and they should be commended for their efforts in finding the java proxy IE exploit "in the wild" on their own without a security company having to release anything, but they don't need to be commended for releasing their regular monthly patches.
Patching for security issues is not something that a vendor is rewarded for. They are expected to do it.