Patch Tuesday Analysis - January 2016

Editor's Notes

1. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle#gp/Microsoft-Internet-Explorer http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windows-embedded/archive/2014/02/17/what-does-the-end-of-support-of-windows-xp-mean-for-windows-embedded.aspx https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/distribution3.html
2. Shavlik Priority: Shavlik rates this bulletin as a Priority 1. This means you should update as soon as possible on all systems. Known Issue MS16-007: This patch will not be offered if Citrix Virtual Delivery Agent is detected. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3124266 
3. Shavlik Priority: Shavlik rates this bulletin as a Priority 1. This means you should update as soon as possible on all systems. Internet Explorer Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability – CVE-2016-0005 An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when Internet Explorer does not properly enforce cross-domain policies, which could allow an attacker to access information from one domain and inject it into another domain. The update addresses the vulnerability by helping to ensure that cross-domain policies are properly enforced in Internet Explorer. In a web-based attack scenario, an attacker could host a website that is used to attempt to exploit the vulnerability. In addition, compromised websites and websites that accept or host user-provided content could contain specially crafted content that could exploit the vulnerability. In all cases, however, an attacker would have no way to force users to view the attacker-controlled content. Instead, an attacker would have to convince users to take action. For example, an attacker could trick users into clicking a link that takes them to the attacker's site. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could elevate privileges in affected versions of Internet Explorer. The vulnerability by itself does not allow arbitrary code to be run. However, the vulnerability could be used in conjunction with another vulnerability (for example, a remote code execution vulnerability) that could take advantage of the elevated privileges when running arbitrary code. For example, an attacker could exploit another vulnerability to run arbitrary code through Internet Explorer, but due to the context in which processes are launched by Internet Explorer, the code might be restricted to run at a low integrity level (very limited permissions). However, an attacker could, in turn, exploit this vulnerability to cause the arbitrary code to run at a medium integrity level (permissions of the current user). 
4. Shavlik Priority: Shavlik rates this bulletin as a Priority 1. This means you should update as soon as possible on all systems. Microsoft Edge Memory Corruption Vulnerability – CVE-2016-0003 A remote code execution vulnerability exists when Microsoft Edge improperly accesses objects in memory. The vulnerability could corrupt memory in such a way that an attacker could execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user. An attacker could host a specially crafted website that is designed to exploit the vulnerability through Microsoft Edge, and then convince a user to view the website. The attacker could also take advantage of compromised websites and websites that accept or host user-provided content or advertisements by adding specially crafted content that could exploit the vulnerability. In all cases, however, an attacker would have no way to force users to view the attacker-controlled content. Instead, an attacker would have to convince users to take action, typically by way of enticement in an email or Instant Messenger message, or by getting them to open an attachment sent through email. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the current user. If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could take control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. The update addresses the vulnerability by modifying how Microsoft Edge handles objects in memory. Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability – CVE-2016-0024 A remote code execution vulnerability exists in the way that the Chakra JavaScript engine renders when handling objects in memory in Microsoft Edge. The vulnerability could corrupt memory in such a way that an attacker could execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user. In a web-based attack scenario, an attacker could host a specially crafted website that is designed to exploit the vulnerability through Microsoft Edge and then convince a user to view the website. An attacker could also embed an ActiveX control marked "safe for initialization" in an application or Microsoft Office document that hosts the Edge rendering engine. The attacker could also take advantage of compromised websites, and websites that accept or host user-provided content or advertisements. These websites could contain specially crafted content that could exploit the vulnerability. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the current user. If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could take control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.
5. Shavlik Priority: Shavlik rates this bulletin as a Priority 1. This means you should update as soon as possible on all systems. Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability - CVE-2016-0002 A remote code execution vulnerability exists in the way that the VBScript engine renders when handling objects in memory in Internet Explorer. The vulnerability could corrupt memory in such a way that an attacker could execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user. In a web-based attack scenario, an attacker could host a specially crafted website that is designed to exploit the vulnerability through Internet Explorer and then convince a user to view the website. An attacker could also embed an ActiveX control marked "safe for initialization" in an application or Microsoft Office document that hosts the IE rendering engine. The attacker could also take advantage of compromised websites, and websites that accept or host user-provided content or advertisements. These websites could contain specially crafted content that could exploit the vulnerability. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the current user. If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could take control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.
6. Shavlik Priority: Shavlik rates this bulletin as a Priority 1. This means you should update as soon as possible on all systems. Multiple Microsoft Office Memory Corruption Vulnerabilities (CVE-2016-0010, CVE-2016-0035) Multiple remote code execution vulnerabilities exist in Microsoft Office software when the Office software fails to properly handle objects in memory. An attacker who successfully exploited these vulnerabilities could run arbitrary code in the context of the current user. If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker could take control of the affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. 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. To exploit the vulnerabilities, a user must open a specially crafted file with an affected version of Microsoft Office software. In an email attack scenario an attacker could exploit the vulnerabilities by sending the specially crafted file to the user and convincing the user to open the file. In a web-based attack scenario an attacker could host a website (or leverage a compromised website that accepts or hosts user-provided content) that contains a specially crafted file that is designed to exploit the vulnerabilities. An attacker would have no way to force users to visit the website. Instead, an attacker would have to convince users to click a link, typically by way of an enticement in an email or Instant Messenger message, and then convince them to open the specially crafted file. The security update addresses the vulnerabilities by correcting how Office handles objects in memory. Multiple Microsoft SharePoint Security Feature Bypasses (CVE-2016-0011, CVE-2015-6117) Multiple security feature bypasses exist in Microsoft SharePoint when Access Control Policy (ACP) configuration settings are not enforced correctly. To exploit the bypasses, an attacker could add script to a webpart, on a SharePoint site, that only a SharePoint site administrator could normally add, and then use the webpart in a cross-site scripting attack in the context of a user visiting the SharePoint site. The bypasses could allow the attacker to read unauthorized content, and perform actions on the SharePoint site as the user, such as change permissions, delete content, and inject malicious content into the user’s browser. The update addresses the bypasses by ensuring that ACP configuration settings are enforced correctly. Microsoft Office ASLR Bypass – CVE-2016-0012 A security feature bypass exists when Microsoft Office fails to use the Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) security feature, allowing an attacker to more reliably predict the memory offsets of specific instructions in a given call stack. An attacker who successfully exploited it could bypass the Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) security feature, which helps protect users from a broad class of vulnerabilities. The security feature bypass by itself does not allow arbitrary code execution. However, an attacker could use this ASLR bypass in conjunction with another vulnerability, such as a remote code execution vulnerability, to more reliably run arbitrary code on a target system. In a web-browsing scenario, successful exploitation of the ASLR bypass requires a user to be logged on and running an affected version of Microsoft Office. The user would then need to browse to a malicious site. Therefore, any systems where a web browser is used frequently, such as workstations or terminal servers, are at the most risk from this ASLR bypass. Servers could be at more risk if administrators allow users to browse and read email on servers. However, best practices strongly discourage allowing this. The update addresses the ASLR bypass by helping to ensure that affected versions of Microsoft Office properly implement the ASLR security feature.
7. Shavlik Priority: Shavlik rates this bulletin as a Priority 1. This means you should update as soon as possible on all systems. Win32k Remote Code Execution Vulnerability - CVE-2016-0009 A remote code execution vulnerability exists in the way that Windows handles objects in memory. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary code on a target system. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would first have to convince a user to visit a malicious website that could exploit the vulnerability and run arbitrary code with the logged on user’s privileges. The security update addresses this vulnerability by correcting how Windows handles objects in memory. Windows GDI32.dll ASLR Bypass Vulnerability - CVE-2016-0008 A security feature bypass vulnerability exists in the way that the Windows graphics device interface handles objects in memory, allowing an attacker to retrieve information that could lead to an Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) bypass. To exploit this vulnerability, in a web-based attack scenario, an attacker could host a specially crafted website that is designed to exploit the vulnerability through Internet Explorer and then convince users to view the website. This could also include compromised websites or websites that accept or host user-provided content or banner advertisements; such websites could contain specially crafted content that is designed to exploit the vulnerability. In all cases, however, an attacker would have no way to force users to visit such websites. Instead, an attacker would have to convince users to do so, typically by getting them to click a link in an email or Instant Messenger request. In an email attack scenario, an attacker could exploit the vulnerability by sending Outlook users a specially crafted email, or sending them a specially crafted Office document as an attachment, and convincing the user to read the message or open the file. An attacker could also exploit this vulnerability by hosting a malicious file on a network share and convincing users to navigate to the folder in Windows Explorer. The security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how the Windows graphics device interface handles memory addresses, thereby helping to protect the integrity of the ASLR security feature.
8. Shavlik Priority: Shavlik rates this bulletin as a Priority 1. This means you should update as soon as possible on all systems. Silverlight Runtime Remote Code Execution Vulnerability - CVE-2016-0034 A remote code execution vulnerability exists when Microsoft Silverlight decodes strings using a malicious decoder that can return negative offsets that cause Silverlight to replace unsafe object headers with contents provided by an attacker. In a web-browsing scenario, an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could obtain the same permissions as the currently logged-on user. If a user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker could take complete control of the affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. 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. To exploit the vulnerability, an attacker could host a website that contains a specially crafted Silverlight application and then convince a user to visit the compromised website. The attacker could also take advantage of websites containing specially crafted content, including those that accept or host user-provided content or advertisements. For example, an attacker could display specially crafted web content by using banner advertisements or by using other methods to deliver web content to affected systems. In all cases, however, an attacker would have no way to force users to visit a compromised website. Instead, an attacker would have to convince a user to visit the website, typically by enticing them to click a link in an email or instant message. The update addresses this vulnerability by correcting how Microsoft Silverlight validates decoder results.
9. Shavlik Priority: Shavlik rates this bulletin as a Priority 1. This means you should update as soon as possible on all systems. Multiple DLL Loading Remote Code Execution Vulnerabilities (Publicly Disclosed CVE-2016-0016, CVE-2016-0018) Multiple remote code execution vulnerabilities exist when Windows improperly validates input before loading dynamic link library (DLL) files. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. 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. To exploit the vulnerabilities, an attacker would first have to log on to the target system and then run a specially crafted application. The updates address the vulnerabilities by correcting how Windows validates input before loading DLL files. Multiple DLL Loading Elevation of Privilege Vulnerabilities (CVE-2016-0014, CVE-2016-0020) Multiple elevation of privilege vulnerabilities exist when Windows improperly validates input before loading dynamic link library (DLL) files. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerabilities could elevate their privileges on a targeted system. To exploit the vulnerabilities, an attacker would first have to log on to the target system. An attacker could then run a specially crafted application that could exploit the vulnerabilities and take control over an affected system. The update addresses the vulnerabilities by correcting how Windows validates input before loading DLL files. DirectShow Heap Corruption Remote Code Execution Vulnerability - CVE-2016-0015 A remote code execution vulnerability exists when Microsoft DirectShow improperly validates user input. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could cause arbitrary code to execute in the context of the current user. If a user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker could take complete control of the affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. 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. For an attack to be successful, this vulnerability requires that a user open a specially crafted file. In an email attack scenario, an attacker could exploit the vulnerability by sending a specially crafted link to the user and by convincing the user to open it. The security update addresses the vulnerability by modifying how DirectShow validates user input. Windows Remote Desktop Protocol Security Bypass Vulnerability - CVE-2016-0019 A security feature bypass vulnerability exists in Windows Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) that is caused when Windows 10 hosts running RDP services fail to prevent remote logon to accounts that have no passwords set. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain access to the remote host as another user, possibly with elevated privileges. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by using an older version of the RDP client to connect to the Windows 10 host. Once connected, the attacker could generate a list of user accounts on the host and attempt to log on as those users. If one of the user accounts has no password set, then the attacker is allowed to log on as that user, despite the default system setting that restricts access to accounts without passwords to local logon only. The security update addresses the vulnerability by enforcing the default setting of not allowing remote logon for accounts without passwords.
10. Shavlik Priority: Shavlik rates this bulletin as a Priority 1. This means you should update as soon as possible on all systems. To fully update Flash Player you must apply the IE Security Advisory, Google Chrome update, Mozilla Firefox and the Flash Player install.
11. Shavlik Priority: Shavlik rates this bulletin as a Priority 1. This means you should update as soon as possible on all systems. http://java-0day.com/ 186 days since last known Java 0-day Exploit as of January 13, 2016. Previous high score was 723 days. 4 releases in 2015, all critical. Smallest of these was 14 vulnerabilities resolved. All 14 were remotely exploitable over the network without authorization. We are assuming a Critical update and calling it a Priority 1, but it is a safe bet.
12. Shavlik Priority: Shavlik rates this bulletin as a Priority 2. This means the update should be implemented in a reasonable timeframe after adequate testing. Multiple Windows Mount Point Elevation of Privilege Vulnerabilities (CVE-2016-0006, CVE-2016-0007) Multiple vulnerabilities exist in Windows while validating reparse points being set by sandbox applications. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerabilities could run arbitrary code in the security context of the local system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. To exploit the vulnerabilities, an attacker would first have to log on to the system. An attacker could then run a specially crafted application that could exploit the vulnerabilities and take complete control of an affected system. The update addresses the vulnerabilities by correcting how Windows handles certain scenarios involving mount point creation.
13. Shavlik Priority: Shavlik rates this bulletin as a Priority 2. This means the update should be implemented in a reasonable timeframe after adequate testing. Multiple Exchange Spoofing Vulnerabilities Multiple spoofing vulnerabilities exist in Microsoft Exchange Server when Outlook Web Access (OWA) fails to properly handle web requests. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerabilities could perform script or content injection attacks, and attempt to trick the user into disclosing sensitive information. An attacker could also redirect the user to a malicious website that could spoof content or be used as a pivot to chain an attack with other vulnerabilities in web services. To exploit the vulnerabilities, an attacker could send a specially crafted email containing a malicious link to a user. An attacker could also use a chat client to social engineer a user into clicking the malicious link. However, in both examples the user must click the maliciously link. The security update addresses the vulnerabilities by correcting how OWA validates web requests.
14. Shavlik Priority: Shavlik rates this bulletin as a Priority 2. This means the update should be implemented in a reasonable timeframe after adequate testing.
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