February 2021 Update Summary

To my readers; I hope you and your families are safe and well. Sorry for the delay in publishing this post. However, it does contain information made available after the 9th February and should still prove useful.

Tuesday, 9th February was the release day for Adobe and Microsoft’s scheduled security updates. Adobe addressed 50 vulnerabilities and Microsoft resolved 56 vulnerabilities more formally known as CVEs (defined).

Let’s begin with Adobe’s security updates:

Adobe Acrobat and Reader: Addresses 23x Priority 1 (17x Critical Severity and 6x Important Severity) vulnerabilities

Adobe Animate: Addresses 1x Priority 3 (1x Critical Severity) vulnerabilities

Adobe Dreamweaver: Addresses 1x Priority 3 (1x Important Severity) vulnerabilities

Adobe Illustrator: Addresses 2x Priority 3 (2x Critical Severity) vulnerabilities

Magento: Addresses 18x Priority 2 (7x Critical, 10x Important and 1x Moderate Severity) vulnerabilities

Adobe Photoshop: Addresses 5x Priority 3 (5x Critical Severity) vulnerabilities

If you  use any of the above Adobe products, please make certain to install the relevant updates as soon as possible. This is especially important in the case of the critical severity updates.

Separately, Microsoft from the 16th February onwards began releasing an optional update for Windows 10 that removes the embedded version of Flash Player (that was previously used by Internet Explorer).

I installed this update on my 3x Windows 10 20H2 systems (2x physical and 1x virtual machine). The update never requested a reboot. It left behind some empty folders (the locations of which are detailed here). This was a very smooth removal. I will install this update on my 2x physical Windows 8.1 systems when it is offered to them (likely in March 2021).

=======================

Microsoft currently lists 36 Known Issues within its monthly summary. Almost all have workarounds or resolutions (others have solutions currently being worked upon). Please review the list from the above link if you have any concerns.

====================
A further useful source of update related information is the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) (please see the “Information on Security Updates” heading of the “Protecting Your PC” page):

https://www.us-cert.gov/
====================

For this month’s Microsoft updates, as always I will prioritise the order of installation below:
====================

Microsoft Windows Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability: CVE-2021-1732

Windows TCP/IP Remote Code Execution Vulnerability: CVE-2021-24074

Windows TCP/IP Remote Code Execution Vulnerability: CVE-2021-24094

Windows DNS Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability: CVE-2021-24078

Windows Local Spooler Remote Code Execution Vulnerability: CVE-2021-24088

Windows Graphics Component Remote Code Execution Vulnerability: CVE-2021-24093

.NET Core for Linux Remote Code Execution Vulnerability: CVE-2021-14112

Microsoft .NET Core and Visual Studio Remote Code Execution Vulnerability: CVE-2021-26701

Windows Fax Service Remote Code Execution Vulnerability: CVE-2021-24077

Windows Fax Service Remote Code Execution Vulnerability: CVE-2021-1722

Sysinternals PsExec Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability: CVE-2021-1733 (a revised fixed was made available by Microsoft in March 2021)

Microsoft Windows Codecs Library Remote Code Execution Vulnerability: CVE-2021-24081

Windows Camera Codec Pack Remote Code Execution Vulnerability: CVE-2021-24091

Microsoft Windows Installer Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability: CVE-2021-1727

Microsoft .NET Core and Visual Studio Remote Code Execution Vulnerability: CVE-2021-1721

Windows Console Driver Denial of Service Vulnerability: CVE-2021-24098

Windows DirectX Information Disclosure Vulnerability: CVE-2021-24106

As per standard best practice, I would recommend backing up the data on any device for which you are installing updates to prevent data loss in the rare event that any update causes unexpected issues.

I have also provided further details of updates available for other commonly used applications below.

To all of my readers; I hope you and your families stay safe during these tough times. Thank you.

====================
Mozilla Firefox
====================
In the first week of February Mozilla made available Firefox 85.0.1 and Firefox ESR (Extended Support Release) 78.7.1 to resolve the following critical vulnerability:

Firefox 85.0.1 and Firefox ESR 78.7.1: Resolves 1x Critical severity CVE

A mitigation for the Windows 10 NTFS Corruption vulnerability was also added to Firefox 85.0.1. My thanks to BleepingComputer for their article on that issue.

Later on, the 23rd February, Mozilla made available Firefox 86 and Firefox ESR 78.8 to resolve the following vulnerabilities:

Firefox 86: Resolves 5x High severity, 4x Moderate and 3x Low severity CVEs

Firefox ESR 78.8: Resolves 3x High and 1x Low severity CVEs

Firefox 86 introduces Total Cookie Protection and multiple picture in picture (among other features detailed here).

Details of how to install updates for Firefox are here. If Firefox is your web browser of choice, if you have not already done so, please update it as soon as possible to benefit from the above change.

====================
Google Chrome
====================
Google has released 4 Chrome updates so far in February version 88.0.4324.146 , version 88.0.4324.150 and version 88.0.4324.182 for Linux, Mac and Windows to resolve 6, 1  and 10 security vulnerabilities (respectively). Version 88.0.4324.190 and 192 for Mac do not contain security updates. Version 88 of Chrome removes support for Adobe Flash.

Google Chrome updates automatically and will apply the update the next time Chrome is closed and then re-opened. Chrome can also be updated immediately by clicking the Options button (it looks like 3 vertically stacked dots) in the upper right corner of the window and choosing “About Google Chrome” from the menu. Follow the prompt to Re-launch Chrome for the updates to take effect.

====================
Cyberpunk 2077
====================
The popular video game Cyberpunk 2077 has released a security update, hotfix version 1.12 to resolve the following security issues:

Fixed a buffer overrun (defined) issue

Removed/replaced non-ASLR (defined) DLLs (defined)

My thanks to BleepingComputer for their article listing the availability of this security update.

====================
Apple Security Updates
====================
Apple had released the following security updates so far in February:

Apple macOS Big Sur 11.2, Security Update 2021-001 Catalina, Security Update 2021-001 Mojave: Addresses 66x CVEs

Apple Safari 14.0.3: Addresses 3X CVEs

Apple macOS Big Sur 11.2.1, macOS Catalina 10.15.7 Supplemental Update, and macOS Mojave 10.14.6 Security Update 2021-002: Addresses 3x CVEs

July 2020 Update Summary

Earlier this month Adobe and Microsoft made available their expected security updates. These updates resolve 13 and 123 vulnerabilities (respectively) more formally known as CVEs (defined).

An interesting fact as pointed out by ZDI is that for “five straight months of 110+ CVEs released and brings the total for 2020 up to 742. For comparison, Microsoft released patches for 851 CVEs in all of 2019. At this pace, Microsoft will eclipse that number next month. They have already passed their totals for 2017 (665) and 2018 (691)”.

I believe that while this gives us all more work to apply the patches, overall we are becoming safer since more issues are being discovered and resolved.

Let’s begin with Adobe’s updates:

Adobe Bridge: 3x Priority 3 CVEs resolved (3x Critical Severity)

Adobe ColdFusion: 2x Priority 2 CVEs resolved (2x Important Severity)

Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application: 4x Priority 2 CVEs (1x Critical and 3x Important Severity)

Adobe Download Manager: 1x Priority 3 (1x Critical Severity)

Adobe Genuine Service: 3x Priority 3 (3x Important Severity)

Adobe Media Encoder: 3x Priority 3 (2x Critical Severity, 1x Important Severity)

Adobe Photoshop: 5x Priority 3 CVEs resolved (5x Critical Severity)

If you use any of the above Adobe products, especially those with critical severity updates; please install these updates as soon as possible.

Microsoft’s monthly summary; lists Known Issues for 11 Microsoft products but all have workarounds or corrective updates.

====================
A further useful source of update related information is the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) (please see the “Information on Security Updates” heading of the “Protecting Your PC” page):

https://www.us-cert.gov/

====================
For this month’s Microsoft updates, I will prioritize the order of installation below:
====================

The highest priority update for this month is the Windows DNS Server vulnerability. Please see my dedicated post for more details.

Windows SharedStream Library Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability: CVE-2020-1463

Windows Font Library Remote Code Execution Vulnerability: CVE-2020-1436

GDI+ Remote Code Execution Vulnerability: CVE-2020-1435

.NET Framework, SharePoint Server, and Visual Studio Remote Code Execution Vulnerability: CVE-2020-1147

Windows Hyper-V RemoteFX vGPU Vulnerabilities: CVE-2020-1032 , CVE-2020-1036 , CVE-2020-1040 , CVE-2020-1041 , CVE-2020-1042 , CVE-2020-1043

For these Hyper-V vulnerabilities; they affect Intel and AMD GPU drivers. Intel has not yet released updates for these vulnerabilities. AMD has scheduled driver updates for September 2020. Nvidia GPU drivers are not affected.

DirectWrite Remote Code Execution Vulnerability: CVE-2020-1409

GDI+ Remote Code Execution Vulnerability: CVE-2020-1435

LNK Remote Code Execution Vulnerability: CVE-2020-1421

Microsoft Outlook Remote Code Execution Vulnerability: CVE-2020-1349

Microsoft Office Elevation of Privilege: CVE-2020-1025

Remote Desktop Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability: CVE-2020-1374

VBScript Remote Code Execution Vulnerability: CVE-2020-1403

Windows Address Book Remote Code Execution Vulnerability: CVE-2020-1410

PerformancePoint Services Remote Code Execution Vulnerability: CVE-2020-1439

As per standard best practice, I would recommend backing up the data on any device for which you are installing updates to prevent data loss in the rare event that any update causes unexpected issues.

I have also provided further details of updates available for other commonly used applications and devices below.

To all of my readers and your families, I hope you are continuing to stay safe during these tough times; things are slowly getting better. Thank you.

====================
Nvidia
====================
In early July Nvidia released a security update for GeForce Experience. A further security update was released on the 8th of July for Nvidia’s NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier, TX1, TX2, and Nano L4T software development kit (SDK) for Linux.

As was the case with previous Nvidia security updates all of these vulnerabilities are local vulnerabilities rather than remote meaning that an attacker would first need to compromise your system before exploiting the vulnerabilities to elevate their privileges.

To resolve the local vulnerabilities within GeForce Experience  apply the necessary update by opening GeForce Experience which will automatically update it or the update can be obtained from here.

An updated version of the Nvidia’s NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier, TX1, TX2, and Nano L4T software development kit (SDK) is available from NVIDIA DevZone. An alternative means of mitigating the vulnerability is also provided in the security advisory.

Separately as pointed out above in the update prioritisation for Microsoft’s updates, Nvidia have confirmed that their GPU drivers are not affected by the Windows Hyper-V RemoteFX vGPU vulnerabilities responsibly disclosed by the Cisco Talos team.

====================
Google Chrome
====================
In mid-July Google made available Chrome version 84.0.4147.89 or Linux, Mac and Windows to resolving 38 security vulnerabilities and introducing new features (please the see above Google link for details).

Google Chrome updates automatically and will apply the update the next time Chrome is closed and then re-opened. Chrome can also be updated immediately by clicking the Options button (it looks like 3 vertically stacked dots) in the upper right corner of the window and choosing “About Google Chrome” from the menu. Follow the prompt to Re-launch Chrome for the updates to take effect.

====================
VMware
====================
VMware released 3 security advisories to resolve vulnerabilities within the following products:

====================
Advisory 1: Severity: Critical:

VMware vSphere ESXi (ESXi)

VMware Workstation Pro / Player (Workstation)

VMware Fusion Pro / Fusion (Fusion)

VMware Cloud Foundation

====================
Advisory 2: Severity: Important:

VMware SD-WAN by VeloCloud (VeloCloud)

====================
Advisory 3: Severity: Important:

VMware Fusion Pro / Fusion (Fusion)

VMware Remote Console for Mac (VMRC for Mac)

VMware Horizon Client for Mac

====================
If you use any of the above VMware products, please review the above advisories and install the applicable security updates as soon as possible, especially in the case of the critical security updates.

====================
Wireshark
====================
On the 1st July; Wireshark made available security updates (I’ll detail only the 2 most recent versions here):

v3.2.5: Relating to 1 security advisory for 1 CVE

v3.0.12: Resolves minor non-security bugs.

As per standard process Linux distributions can obtain this update using the operating systems standard package manager (if the latest version is not installed automatically using the package manager you can instead compile the source code (v3.2.5 or v3.0.12). This forum thread and this forum thread may also be helpful to you with installing Wireshark on your Linux based system.

For Mac OS X and Windows, the update is available within the downloads section of the Wireshark website. In addition, a detailed FAQ for Wireshark is available here.

=======================
Apple Security Updates:
=======================
In mid-July; Apple made available the following updates.

Further details for these updates are as follows:

macOS Catalina 10.15.6, Security Update 2020-004 Mojave, Security Update 2020-004 High Sierra: Resolves 19 CVEs.
watchOS 6.2.8: Resolves 19 CVEs.
Apple tvOS 13.4.8: Resolves 20 CVEs.
Apple iOS 13.6 and iPadOS 13.6: Resolves 29 CVEs.
Safari 13.1.2: Resolves 11 CVEs.

While the following products do not have CVEs associated with them, it is still best practice to use the most updated versions:

Apple iOS 12.4.8
Apple Xcode 11.6
Apple watchOS 5.3.8
=======================

Please see these links from Apple for advice on backing up your iPhone and iPad. Steps for updating them are here. Advice for updating tvOS is available here while the steps for updating the Apple Watch are available here.

As always; further details of these updates are available on Apple’s dedicated security updates page.

For advice on how to install updates for Apple devices, please see the steps detailed at the end of this Sophos blog post as well as this link (from my “Protecting Your PC”

May 2020 Update Summary

I hope this posts finds you doing well in these difficult times.

I’m writing this post early to highlight the availability of 2 important updates, for Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. I’ll update the post when Adobe and Microsoft release their expected security updates.

Thank you and please stay safe.

====================
Update: 19th May 2020
====================
Sorry for not updating this post sooner.

As scheduled both Adobe and Microsoft released their monthly security updates addressing 36 vulnerabilities and 111 vulnerabilities (respectively). These vulnerabilities are more formally known as CVEs (defined).

Adobe’s updates for this month are as following:

Adobe Acrobat and Reader: 24x Priority 2 CVEs resolved (12x Critical and 12x Important severity)

Adobe DNG Software Development Kit (SDK): 12x Priority 3 CVEs resolved (4x Critical and 8x Important severity)

Adobe have since released further security updates:

Adobe Audition: 1x Priority 3 CVE resolved (1x Important severity)

Adobe Character Animator: 1x Priority 3 CVE resolved (1x Critical severity)

Adobe Premiere Pro: 1x Priority 3 CVE resolved (1x Important severity)

Adobe Premiere Rush: 1x Priority 3 CVE resolved (1x Important severity)

Adobe Acrobat and Reader: 24x Priority 2 CVEs resolved (12x Critical and 12x Important severity)

If you use the above Adobe products, please install these updates as soon as possible since they resolve multiple critical vulnerabilities. Similar to January, March and April no updates for Adobe Flash were released.

====================
A further useful source of update related information is the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) (please see the “Information on Security Updates” heading of the “Protecting Your PC” page):

https://www.us-cert.gov/

====================
As always for this month’s Microsoft updates, I will prioritize the order of installation below:
====================
Windows Graphics Component: CVE-2020-1135

Visual Studio Code Python Extension: CVE-2020-1058, CVE-2020-1060, CVE-2020-1171 , CVE-2020-1192

Microsoft Internet Explorer: CVE-2020-1062

VBScript Remote Code Execution Vulnerability: CVE-2020-1035

Microsoft Edge CVE-2020-1056 , CVE-2020-1059 , CVE-2020-1096

Microsoft SharePoint: CVE-2020-1023 , CVE-2020-1024, CVE-2020-1102

Windows kernel: CVE-2020-1054, CVE-2020-1143

Windows Media Foundation: CVE-2020-1126

Microsoft Color Management: CVE-2020-1117

Windows Print Spooler: CVE-2020-1048

Microsoft Windows Transport Layer Security Denial of Service Vulnerability: CVE-2020-1118

Please install the remaining updates at your earliest convenience.

As per standard best practice, I would recommend backing up the data on any device for which you are installing updates to prevent data loss in the rare event that any update causes unexpected issues.

I have also provided further details of updates available for other commonly used applications and devices below.

To all of my readers and your families, I hope you are staying safe during these challenging times. Thank you.

====================
Mozilla Firefox
====================
In the first week of May, Mozilla released Firefox 76 and Firefox ESR (Extended Support Release) 68.8 to resolve the following vulnerabilities:

Firefox 76.0: Addresses 3x critical severity CVEs, 2x high severity CVEs, 4x moderate CVEs and 1x low CVE

Firefox 68.8 ESR: Addresses 3x critical severity CVEs, 2x high severity CVEs and 2x moderate severity CVEs

Firefox 76 introduces a new password manager (with the ability to generate difficult to guess passwords) which includes a means of detecting if a password was part of a password breach and now requires changing or the use of the same password on multiple websites.

An improved picture in picture experience is also included. Firefox 76.0.1 has since been released resolving non-security issues such as crashing add-ons e.g. the Amazon Assistant extension and crashing with Nvidia GPU drivers on Windows 7 32 bit (my thanks to Bogdan Popa of Softpedia.com and Mozilla for this information).

====================
Google Chrome
====================
Early last week, Google released Chrome version 81.0.4044.138 for Linux, Mac and Windows to resolve 3 security vulnerabilities with the most severe 2 issues being of high severity.

In mid-May, Google released version 83 of Google Chrome for Linux, Mac and Windows resolves 38 security vulnerabilities and adds multiple security features and features such as tab groups.

Google Chrome updates automatically and will apply the update the next time Chrome is closed and then re-opened. Chrome can also be updated immediately by clicking the Options button (it looks like 3 vertically stacked dots) in the upper right corner of the window and choosing “About Google Chrome” from the menu. Follow the prompt to Re-launch Chrome for the updates to take effect.

====================
VMware
====================

VMware released 3 security advisories this month to resolve vulnerabilities within the following products:

====================

Advisory 1: Severity: Critical:
VMware vRealize Operations Application Remote Collector (ARC)

Advisory 2: Severity: Important
VMware Cloud Director

Advisory 3: Severity: Important
VMware ESXi
VMware Workstation Pro / Player (Workstation)
VMware Fusion Pro / Fusion (Fusion)
VMware Remote Console for Mac (VMRC for Mac)
VMware Horizon Client for Mac

====================

If you use any of the above products, please review the above advisories and install the applicable security updates as soon as possible.

=======================
Apple Security Updates:
=======================
In mid May Apple made available the following updates. Further details for these updates are as follows:

Apple watchOS 6.2.5: Resolves 34x CVEs (defined)

Apple watchOS 5.3.7: Resolves 2x CVEs
Apple xCode 11.5: Resolves 1x CVE
Apple tvOS 13.4.5: Resolves 34x CVEs
Apple iOS 13.5 and iPadOS 13.5: Resolves 47x CVEs
Apple iTunes 12.10.7 for Windows: Resolves 12x CVEs
Apple iCloud for Windows 7.19 (for Windows 7): Resolves 12x CVEs
Apple Safari 13.1.1: Resolves 10x CVEs
Windows Migration Assistant 2.2.0.0: Resolves 1 CVE
Apple iCloud 11.2 for Windows 10 (available from the Microsoft Store): Resolves 12x CVEs
macOS Catalina 10.15.5, Security Update 2020-003 Mojave, Security Update 2020-003 High Sierra: Resolves 54x CVEs

=======================

Please see these links from Apple for advice on backing up your iPhone and iPad. Advice for updating tvOS is available here while the steps for updating the Apple Watch are available here.

As always; further details of these updates are available on Apple’s dedicated security updates page.

For advice on how to install updates for Apple devices, please see the steps detailed at the end of this Sophos blog post as well as this link (from my “Protecting Your PC” page).

====================
Wireshark
====================
In the second half of May, Wireshark made available the following updates (I’ll detail only the 2 most recent versions here):

v3.2.4: Relating to 1 security advisory (relating to 1 CVE)
v3.0.11: Relating to 1 security advisory (relating to 1 CVE)

As per standard process Linux distributions can obtain this update using the operating systems standard package manager (if the latest version is not installed automatically using the package manager you can instead compile the source code (v3.2.4 or v3.0.9). This forum thread and this forum thread may also be helpful to you with installing Wireshark on your Linux based system.

For Mac OS X and Windows, the update is available within the downloads section of the Wireshark website. In addition, a detailed FAQ for Wireshark is available here.

Highlights from Pwn2Own 2020

====================
TL;DR:

The following products were successfully exploited, please install the necessary updates for them when they become available: Apple Safari, Apple macOS, Ubuntu Desktop, Windows, Oracle VirtualBox and Adobe Reader
====================
As long-time readers of this blog will know, the Pwn2Own security conference with its white hacking contest is my favourite event of the year. Sophisticated vulnerability exploitation is showcased, the contestants receive large sums of money and we as consumers receive safer products to use on a day to day basis. It took place late last week virtually due to the Coronavirus. The results from both days of competition can be found here. The total prize was USD $270,000.

The winners of the competition were Richard Zhu and Amat Cama of Team Fluoroacetate winning the Master of Pwn title and USD $90,000 in prize money.

Returning to the trend of previous years, exploits against the Apple macOS kernel (defined) and Windows kernel were common again. These are high severity vulnerabilities but when addressed will make our systems safer.

The vendors have up to 90 days to resolve the vulnerabilities before public disclosure. Please expect and apply the necessary security updates to the affected as they become available

Thank you.

March 2020 Update Summary

====================
Update: 28th March 2020
====================
I have added the details of the security updates released by Apple on the 24th March near the end of this post. Thank you.

====================
Update: 25th March 2020
====================
Adobe has released a further update for Creative Cloud Desktop. I have added the details below to the Adobe updates list.

VMware have also released VMware Fusion 11.5.3 to more completely address a previously patched vulnerability. Details are below in the VMware updates list.

Thank you.

====================
Update: 23rd March 2020
====================

Since originally writing this post, Adobe published their security updates a week later than usual. Further details are listed below.

Thank you.

====================
Adobe
====================
Adobe Acrobat and Reader: 13x Priority 2 CVEs (defined)resolved (9x Critical and 4x Important severity)
Adobe Bridge: 2x Priority 3 CVEs resolved (2x Critical severity)
Adobe ColdFusion:  2x Priority 2 CVEs resolved (2x Critical severity)
Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop: 1x Priority 2 CVE resolved (1x Critical severity)
Adobe Experience Manager: 1x Priority 2 CVE resolved (1x Important severity)
Adobe Genuine Integrity Service: 1x Priority 3 CVE resolved (1x Important severity)
Adobe Photoshop: 21x Priority 3 CVEs resolved (15x Critical and 6x Important severity)

====================
Update: 15th March 2020:
====================
Security researcher Kevin Beaumont has provided further details of the critical SMBv3.1 vulnerability affecting Windows 10 Version 1903 and 1909. In summary the vulnerability is not trivial to exploit and the number of systems at the time of writing (13th March) vulnerability to the exploit had already dropped by 25%.

====================
Update: 12th March 2020:
====================
Microsoft have released an update to resolve the SMBv3 vulnerability now designated CVE-2020-0796, (EternalDarkness or SMBGhost) please apply it to any Windows 10 Server or Windows 10 workstation system running Windows 10 Version 1903 or 1909 as soon as possible. Please also make certain that such systems are not exposing port 445 to the internet (please seethe FAQ in their information on the relevant update).

An internet scan by security researchers of vulnerable estimates that there are 48,000 vulnerable Windows 10 systems. You can use the ollypwn scan (created by a Danish security researcher) can be used to check if a system is vulnerable.

I wish to add the following useful clarification (which was written before the Microsoft security update became available) from Richard Melick, senior technical product manager at Automox in relation to this SMBv3 vulnerability:

“Considering that SMBv3 is not as widely used as SMBv1, the potential immediate impact of this threat is most likely lower than past vulnerabilities. But that does not mean organizations should be disregarding any endpoint hardening that can happen now while Microsoft works on a patch…it’s better to respond today and disable SMBv3 and block TCP port 445. Respond now and vulnerabilities end today”.

To all of my readers, please stay safe during these challenging times. Thank you.

====================
Update: 11th March 2020
====================
As expected, yesterday Microsoft  released their scheduled updates to resolve 115 CVEs (defined). Unusually for this month, Adobe has not released any updates.

Microsoft’s monthly summary; lists Known Issues for 14 Microsoft products but all have workarounds or resolution steps listed just as the previous month’s did.

====================
A further useful source of update related information is the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) (please see the “Information on Security Updates” heading of the “Protecting Your PC” page):

https://www.us-cert.gov/

====================
As always for this month’s Microsoft updates, I will prioritize the order of installation below:
====================
For Windows or Windows Server system (Version 1903 and 1909) systems that uses SMBv3, please follow Microsoft’s guidance in the following security advisory while an update is not yet available. Please apply the update as soon as it is made available:

ADV200005 | Microsoft Guidance for Disabling SMBv3 Compression

Please also make certain that TCP port 445 is blocked at the enterprise perimeter firewall to prevent exploitation.

This vulnerability is “wormable” meaning that similar to the WannaCry malware and the BlueKeep vulnerability if exploited it may lead to a very large malware outbreak in a very short time.

====================

Windows LNK: CVE-2020-0684
Windows Media Foundation: CVE-2020-0801 , CVE-2020-0807 , CVE-2020-0809,  CVE-2020-0869
Microsoft Internet Explorer: CVE-2020-0824
Microsoft Browsers: CVE-2020-0768

Microsoft Scripting Engine: CVE-2020-0830 , CVE-2020-0847, CVE-2020-0833 , CVE-2020-0832, CVE-2020-0829 , CVE-2020-0813 , CVE-2020-0826, CVE-2020-0827 , CVE-2020-0825 , CVE-2020-0831, CVE-2020-0811, CVE-2020-0828, CVE-2020-0848, CVE-2020-0823, CVE-2020-0812

Microsoft GDI+: CVE-2020-0881, CVE-2020-0883
Microsoft Word: CVE-2020-0852
Microsoft Dynamics: CVE-2020-0905
Microsoft Edge: CVE-2020-0816

====================

Please install the remaining updates at your earliest convenience.

As per standard best practice; I would recommend backing up the data on any device for which you are installing updates to prevent data loss in the rare event that any update causes unexpected issues.

I have also provided further details of updates available for other commonly used applications and devices below.

To all of my readers, please stay safe during these challenging times. Thank you.

====================
Netgear
====================
On the 3rd of March, Netgear released 25 security advisories for its modem-router gateways, approximately 40 routers and a range extender. The vulnerability range up to critical in severity.

If you own a Netgear router, range extender or modem-router gateway, please use the guidance within this article (many thanks to Tom’s Guide for this advice and the appropriate how to check for updates steps) to locate your Netgear device model e.g. R6400 and to match it against the available security bulletins to check if your device requires a firmware (defined) update sometimes called a software update. Please install the update if one is available. The above linked to article also describes the varied methods to update your Netgear device.

====================
Intel Security Advisories
====================
Intel have released a series of security advisories this month. The advisories are prioritised below. If you use any of these products, software or devices, please update them as soon as possible especially in the case of the high severity advisories.

High
Intel Smart Sound Technology Advisory
BlueZ Advisory
Intel NUC Firmware Advisory

Medium
Intel MAX 10 FPGA Advisory
Intel Processors Load Value Injection Advisory
Snoop Assisted L1D Sampling Advisory
Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory Module Management Software Advisory
Intel FPGA Programmable Acceleration Card N3000 Advisory
Intel Graphics Drivers Advisory

====================
Mozilla Firefox
====================
Yesterday, Mozilla released Firefox 74 and Firefox ESR (Extended Support Release) 68.6 to resolve the following vulnerabilities:

Firefox 74.0: Addresses 6x high severity CVEs, 6x medium severity CVEs and 1x low CVE

Firefox 68.6 ESR: Addresses 5x high severity CVEs and 3x medium severity CVEs

Firefox 74 also removes support TLS 1.0 (what is TLS, defined) and 1.1 as per Mozilla’s previous timelime, adds a Facebook Container add-in to limit how much the social tracks you across other sites and blocks the ability for other applications to install Firefox add-ons without your knowledge or consent. Further details of these features and other features added can be found within this article (my thanks to Lawrence Abrams of Bleepingcomputer.com for this information).

====================
Google Chrome
====================
Early last week, Google released Chrome version 80.0.3987.132 for Linux, Mac and Windows to resolve 4 security vulnerabilities with the most severe being of high severity.

Google Chrome updates automatically and will apply the update the next time Chrome is closed and then re-opened. Chrome can also be updated immediately by clicking the Options button (it looks like 3 vertically stacked dots) in the upper right corner of the window and choosing “About Google Chrome” from the menu. Follow the prompt to Re-launch Chrome for the updates to take effect.

=======================
Apple Security Updates:
=======================
On the 24th of March Apple made available the following updates. Notable fixes affect the kernels of macOS, iOS and iPadOS, WebKit (the renderer of Safari), Bluetooth and Safari.

These updates bring Safari to version 13.1 and add updates to its Intelligence Tracking Prevention (ITP) privacy feature while also introducing a block on all 3rd party cookies (defined) by default.

Further details for these updates are as follows:
Apple iOS v13.4 and iPadOS 13.4 (resolves 35x CVEs (defined))
Apple tvOS 13.4: Resolves 20x CVEs.
Apple watchOS 6.2: Resolves 17x CVEs
Apple watchOS 5.3.6 (no CVEs resolved)
Apple iTunes version 12.10.5 for Windows: Resolves 13x CVEs
macOS Catalina 10.15.4, Security Update 2020-002 Mojave, Security Update 2020-002 High Sierra: Resolves 27x CVEs.
Safari 13.1: Resolves 11 CVEs
Apple iCloud for Windows 10.9.3: Resolves 13 CVEs
Apple iCloud for Windows 7.18: Resolves 13 CVEs
Xcode 11.4: Resolves 1 CVE (?: Apple’s post provides little details)

=======================

Please see these links from Apple for advice on backing up your iPhone and iPad. Advice for updating tvOS is available here while the steps for updating the Apple Watch are available here.

As always; further details of these updates are available on Apple’s dedicated security updates page.

For advice on how to install updates for Apple devices, please see the steps detailed at the end of this Sophos blog post as well as this link (from my “Protecting Your PC” page).

====================
OpenSSL
====================
On the 17th March the OpenSSL Foundation issued OpenSSL 1.1.1e (download/installation links included) which includes a low severity security fix.

FTP mirrors to obtain the necessary downloads are available from here.

Downloadable Tarballs (compressed/packaged code made for distribution) are available from here.

It should also be possible to use the package manager of a Linux/Unix operating system to update your OpenSSL installation as mentioned within the section titled “Installing updates for Linux distributions” on the “Protecting Your PC” page of this blog.

====================
VMware
====================
VMware have so far released 2 security advisories this month to resolve vulnerabilities within the following products:

====================
Advisory 1: Severity: Critical:
VMware Workstation Pro / Player (Workstation)
VMware Fusion Pro / Fusion (Fusion)
VMware Horizon Client for Windows
VMware Remote Console for Windows (VMRC for Windows)
====================
Advisory 2: Severity: Important:
VMware Workstation Pro / Player (Workstation)
VMware Fusion Pro / Fusion (Fusion)
VMware Remote Console for Mac (VMRC for Mac)
VMware Horizon Client for Mac
VMware Horizon Client for Windows
====================

Advisory 2 (above) has been updated by VMware to state VMware Fusion has been updated to version 11.5.3 to more comprehensively resolve the vulnerability designated CVE-2020-3950. Please make certain if you use VMwre Fusion that it is the latest version available.

If you use any of the above products, please review the above advisories and install the applicable security updates as soon as possible.

December 2019 Update Summary

As scheduled, on the 10th of December Adobe and Microsoft made available their monthly security updates.

Adobe resolved 25 CVEs this month with Microsoft separately patching 36 CVEs (defined).
====================
Adobe Brackets (an open source (the source code (human readable code) is free to view and edit by the wider IT community) application development editor focused on web development): 1x Priority 3 CVE resolved (1x Critical severity)

Adobe ColdFusion: 1x Priority 2 CVE resolved (1x Important severity)

Adobe Photoshop CC: 2x Priority 3 CVEs resolved (2x Critical severity)

Adobe Acrobat and Reader: 21x Priority 2 CVEs resolved (14x Critical severity and 7x Important severity)

If you use the above Adobe products, please install these updates (especially in the case of the above critical vulnerabilities in all but ColdFusion).
====================

Within Microsoft’s monthly summary; there are Known Issues for 17 Microsoft products but all have workarounds (some workarounds will be replaced by revised or further updates) or updates already available to resolve them.

====================
US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) (please see the “Information on Security Updates” heading of the “Protecting Your PC” page):

https://www.us-cert.gov/

====================
For this month’s Microsoft updates, I will prioritize the order of installation below:
====================
Microsoft Graphics Component (Win32k Graphics): CVE-2019-1468

Microsoft Windows Kernel (defined): CVE-2019-1458

Windows Hyper-V: CVE-2019-1471

Microsoft Visual Studio: CVE-2019-1349 , CVE-2019-1350 , CVE-2019-1352 , CVE-2019-1354 , CVE-2019-1387

Microsoft Guidance for cleaning up orphaned keys generated on vulnerable TPMs (defined) and used for Windows Hello for Business: Security Advisory

Please install the remaining less severe updates at your earliest convenience.

As per standard best practice; I would recommend backing up the data on any device for which you are installing updates to prevent data loss in the rare event that any update causes unexpected issues.

I have provided further details of updates available for other commonly used applications below.

Thank you.

====================
Mozilla Firefox
====================
Mozilla released new versions of Firefox to address the following vulnerabilities and to introduce new privacy features:

Firefox 71.0: Resolves 6x high severity CVEs (defined) and 5x moderate CVEs

Firefox ESR 68.3 (Extended Support Release): Resolves 4x high severity CVEs and 4x moderate CVEs

Highlights from version 71 of Firefox include:
An improved password manager which has the ability to recognise subdomains and to provide password breach notifications from Firefox Monitor for users with screen readers. Native MP3 decoding, kiosk mode and picture in picture support were also added.

The tracking protection enabled by default from Firefox 69 has been enhanced to add 3 different levels (similar to high, medium and custom) of protection and to provide a summary of the number of tracking preventative actions Firefox takes on your behalf. An in-depth description of this feature is available in this Softpedia article. My thanks as always to its author Bogdan Popa for this really well gathered information.

Details of how to install updates for Firefox are here. If Firefox is your web browser of choice, if you have not already done so, please update it as soon as possible to benefit from the above changes.

====================
Google Chrome
====================
Google made available two security updates during November; the first resolves 4 vulnerabilities while the second resolves  5 vulnerabilities.

Google Chrome updates automatically and will apply the update the next time Chrome is closed and then re-opened. Chrome can also be updated immediately by clicking the Options button (it looks like 3 vertically stacked dots) in the upper right corner of the window and choosing “About Google Chrome” from the menu. Follow the prompt to Re-launch Chrome for the updates to take effect.

=======================
AMD
=======================
In early December AMD issued a security advisory for its GPU and APU (defined) drivers (defined). It resolves 2 vulnerabilities CVE-2019-5049 and CVE-2019-5098. The steps to install the drivers on Windows are located here with a guide for Linux available here. Please make certain the drivers are version 20.1.1 or later (as per multiple recommendations from Talos, 1 , 2 and 3). As per those same recommendations if you use VMware Player or Workstation Pro, please make certain it is version 15.5.1 or later. If you use the affected AMD graphics cards, please consider updating your drivers to the most recent available.

====================
Nvidia
====================
In late December Nvidia released a security update for Nvidia Geforce Experience to resolve a vulnerability that may lead to a denial of service (defined) issue or an escalation of privilege (defined) issue. This vulnerability is a local vulnerability rather than remote meaning that an attacker would first need to compromise your system before exploiting this vulnerability to elevate their privileges. To resolve this local vulnerability within Geforce Experience  apply the necessary update by opening Geforce Experience which will automatically update it or the update can be obtained from here.

====================
Intel Security Advisories
====================
Intel have released a series of security advisories this month. The high priority advisories are the following:

High
Linux Administrative Tools for Intel Network Adapters Advisory

Intel NUC Firmware Advisory

The remaining advisories are of medium and low priority:

Medium
Intel Quartus Prime Pro Edition Advisory

Intel RST Advisory (see also my separate post on this vulnerability)

Control Center-I Advisory

Intel SCS Platform Discovery Utility Advisory

Unexpected Page Fault in Virtualized Environment Advisory

Intel FPGA SDK for OpenCL Advisory

Low
Intel Ethernet I218 Adapter Driver for Windows Advisory

Intel Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework Advisory

====================
VMware
====================
Similar to last month, VMware released 2 further security advisories, the first is of critical severity with the second being of moderate severity relating to the products:

Critical Severity Advisory:

VMware ESXi
VMware Horizon DaaS appliances

Moderate Severity Advisory:
VMware Workstation Pro / Player for Linux
VMware Horizon View Agent

If you use the above VMware products, please review the advisories and apply the necessary updates.

====================
OpenSSL
====================
On the 6th December; the OpenSSL Foundation issued 1 update for OpenSSL to address a single low severity security vulnerability as detailed in this security advisory. To resolve this issue please update your OpenSSL installations to 1.1.1e-dev or 1.0.2u (as appropriate). Please note that OpenSSL 1.0.2 will be unsupported and thus will not receive any security updates after 31st December 2019. Please upgrade to version 1.1.1 or later.

FTP mirrors to obtain the necessary downloads are available from here.

Downloadable Tarballs (compressed/packaged code made for distribution) are available from here.

It should also be possible to use the package manager of a Linux/Unix operating system to update your OpenSSL installation as mentioned within the section titled “Installing updates for Linux distributions” on the “Protecting Your PC” page of this blog.

=======================
Apple Security Updates
=======================
Throughout December Apple has released security updates for the following products:

Apple iOS v12.4.4 and 13.3 / iPad OS 13.3: Resolves 1 CVE (defined) and 14 CVEs (respectively)

Apple Safari 13.0.4: Resolves 2 CVEs

Apple macOS Catalina and macOS High Sierra: Resolves 52 CVEs

Apple tvOS 13.3: Resolves 11 CVEs

Apple watchOS 5.3.4 and 6.1.1: Resolves 1 CVE and 10 CVEs (respectively)

Apple Xcode 11.3: Resolves 1 CVE

Apple iTunes 12.10.3 for Windows: Resolves 4 CVEs

Apple iCloud for Windows 7.16 (includes AAS 8.2): Resolves 4 CVEs

Apple iCloud for Windows 10.9: Resolves 4 CVEs

=======================

Please see these links from Apple for advice on backing up your iPhone and iPad. Advice for updating tvOS is available here while the steps for updating the Apple Watch are available here.

As always; further details of these updates are available on Apple’s dedicated security updates page.

For advice on how to install updates for Apple devices, please see the steps detailed at the end of this Sophos blog post as well as this link (from my “Protecting Your PC” page).

====================
Wireshark
====================
In early December the following Wireshark updates were released:

v3.0.7: 1 security advisory

v2.6.13: 1 security advisory

The above v3.0.7 version was later super seceded by v3.2 on the 18th of December. While it does not address security issues, it will be the version being updated going forward. Version 3.2 will also be the last version to support Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7.

As per standard process Linux distributions can obtain this update using the operating systems standard package manager (if the latest version is not installed automatically using the package manager you can instead compile the source code (v3.0.7 or v2.6.13). This forum thread and this forum thread may also be helpful to you with installing Wireshark on your Linux based system.

For Mac OS X and Windows, the update is available within the downloads section of the Wireshark website. In addition, a detailed FAQ for Wireshark is available here.

Pwn2Own 2019 Results

TL DR: With popular products such as the Tesla Model 3, Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox, Oracle VirtualBox, VMware Workstation Pro and Microsoft Edge being successfully exploited; please install the necessary updates when they become available.

The annual white hat hacking contest known as Pwn2Own took place last week. Detailed results from all 3 days are available from this link.

Day 3 saw initially two teams attempting to exploit a Tesla Model 3 before one withdrew. The team Fluoroacetate made up of both Richard Zhu and Amat Cama successfully exploited the infotainment system of the Tesla earning them a further $35,000 and the car itself. They earned $375k in total and became the Master of Pwn for 2019. The contest overall distributed $545k for 19 vulnerabilities.

In contrast to previous years the researchers have targeted vulnerabilities other than those within the operating system kernel (defined) to obtain a total system compromise. Only 3 times were exploits on the OS kernel used this year (one exploit was used in conjunction when exploiting each of the web browsers Apple Safari, Microsoft Edge and Mozilla Firefox).

We can expect updates for each of the exploited products over the coming weeks and months (the vendors have up to 120 days to resolve the vulnerabilities before public disclosure). Mozilla released Firefox 66.0.1 and 60.6.1 to resolve the 2 Firefox CVEs (defined) disclosed during the contest.

If you use the affected products, please keep current with the necessary updates. Thank you.

TLS 1.0 and 1.1 Upcoming End of Support Announced

Early last week saw a coordinated effort from almost major browser vendor to follow the guidelines of the PCI-DSS standard and to end support for TLS 1.0 and 1.1

Why should this change be considered relevant?
Each of the browser vendors have worked together to create a definite timeline (starting in 2020 and complete by July 2020) for the end of support of these now obsolete security protocols. TLS 1.0 is almost 20 years old and is no longer PCI-DSS compliant.  Separately TLS 1.1 is more than 10 years old. They both contain known vulnerabilities e.g. BEAST (an attack), DROWN or FREAK (both downgrade attacks) etc. use insecure hash functions (e.g. MD5 and SHA-1) and receive very little use today:

0.4% from Apple Safari (<0.36% for all connections) (Source: WebKit)

0.5% for Google Chrome (Source: Google)

1.2% of Firefox Beta 62 during the time August-September 2018 (Source: Mozilla)

0.72% for Microsoft Edge (Source: Microsoft)

More modern standard e.g. TLS 1.2 offers improved performance when used with HTTP/2 and are PCI-DSS compliant. Moreover, it doesn’t suffer from all of the vulnerabilities affecting prior versions and includes stronger alternatives to older hash functions e.g. ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 .

What does the future hold?
Following the recent deprecation of any standard of TLS older than 1.2 on the 30th of June this year due to the mandate set by the PCI Security Standard Council has steadily seen the increase of the recently ratified TLS 1.3 (in April 2018) but defined within (Request for Comments) RFC 8446 in August. This is in part due to a change by Mozilla to Firefox in April and the adoption of the newest standard by some popular websites e.g.:

Google’s Gmail (although the newer standard isn’t always enabled)

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/

https://www.securityweek.com/

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com

https://www.theregister.co.uk/

https://www.wordpress.com (which also includes this blog you are reading!)

The OpenSSL Foundation added full TLS 1.3 support to their popular cryptographic library OpenSSL with the release of version 1.1.1 in September 2018. OpenSSL are further driving adoption of the newest standard by ending support for the current long term support (LTS) version 1.0.2 by the end of 2019 (with it only receiving security updates after the 31st December 2018).

The increase in traffic is best illustrated by Mozilla showing approaching 6% usage for Firefox Beta 62 during the time August-September 2018. Such an increase is really good news for the security of the Internet specifically any online service that requests personal information and e-commerce websites in particular.

For more information on which web browsers support TLS 1.3, please see this link with a table from Salesforce illustrating browser support for TLS 1.2 here.

Thank you.

July 2018 Update Summary

Earlier this month, Microsoft made available their usual monthly security updates. This month 53 vulnerabilities more formally known as CVEs (defined) were resolved.

Among these updates are further updates for Spectre NG vulnerabilities (also known as Speculative Store Bypass vulnerabilities) making them available for Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2012, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 in addition to last month’s updates. The vulnerability known as Lazy Floating Point (FP) was also addressed this month. Finally the Spectre 1.1. and Spectre 1.2 vulnerabilities will be discussed in a separate blog post.

This month’s Microsoft updates have a long list of Known Issues detailed in the knowledge base (KB) articles listed at the abovel ink (due to the length I won’t reproduce it here). At the time of writing some of these issues have begun to be addressed by further updates (Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10) released by Microsoft. Others relating to the .Net Framework should be addressed soon.

====================

This month also saw Adobe release an update (priority 2) for Adobe Acrobat DC and Reader DC which addresses 104x CVEs alone. The remaining updates made available this month were:

Adobe Connect (priority 2, 3x CVEs)

Adobe Experience Manager (priority 2, 3x CVEs)

Adobe Flash (priority 2, 2x CVEs)

For Flash, updates for Google Chrome (not a separate update but via its component updater), Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer were made available. As always if you use any of the above Adobe software, please update it as soon as possible especially in the case of Flash and Acrobat DC/Reader DC.

As always; you can monitor the availability of security updates for most your software from the following websites (among others) or use one of the utilities presented on this page:
—————
US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) (please see the “Information on Security Updates” heading of the “Protecting Your PC” page):

https://www.us-cert.gov/

A further useful source of update related information is the Calendar of Updates. News/announcements of updates in the categories of General Software, Security Software and Utilities are available on their website. The news/announcements are very timely and (almost always) contain useful direct download links as well as the changes/improvements made by those updates (where possible).

If you like and use it, please also consider supporting that entirely volunteer run website by donating.

====================
For this month’s Microsoft updates, I will prioritize the order of installation below. A useful list of all CVEs for this month is present here:

====================

Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer (multiple versions of Edge and IE affected with many of the CVEs affecting the Microsoft Scripting Engine))(a previous update from May may need a further non-security fix)

Microsoft PowerShell Editor Services

====================
Please install the remaining updates at your earliest convenience.

As usual; I would recommend backing up the data on any device for which you are installing updates to prevent data loss in the rare event that any update causes unexpected issues. I have provided further details of updates available for other commonly used applications below.

Please find below summaries of other notable updates released this month.

Thank you.

=======================
Oracle:
=======================
Oracle issued updates to resolve a monthly record of 334 vulnerabilities. Further details and installation steps are available here. 8 vulnerabilities affect the Java runtime; all of which are remotely exploitable without an attacker needing to obtain a user’s username and password (their credentials).

If you use any of the Oracle products listed here, please install the appropriate security updates as soon as possible.

=======================
Apple:
=======================
In early July released a group of updates to resolve a large number of vulnerabilities:

Wi-Fi Updates for Boot Camp 6.4.0: Addresses 3x vulnerabilities

Apple iOS 11.4.1: Addresses 22x vulnerabilities

Apple tvOS 11.4.1: Addresses 18x vulnerabilities

Apple watchOS 4.3.2: Addresses 14x vulnerabilities

macOS High Sierra 10.13.6, Security Update 2018-004 Sierra, Security Update 2018-004 El Capitan: Addresses 12x vulnerabilities (also resolves the Intel Lazy FP vulnerability)

Apple Safari 11.1.2: Resolves 16x CVEs

Apple iCloud 7.6 for Windows: Resolves 14x CVEs

Apple iTunes 12.8 for Windows: Resolves 14x CVEs

Please see these links from Apple for advice on backing up your iPhone and iPad. Advice for updating tvOS is available here while the steps for updating the Apple Watch are available here.

As always; further details of these updates are available on Apple’s dedicated security updates page.

For advice on how to install updates for Apple devices, please see the steps detailed at the end of this Sophos blog post as well as this link (from my “Protecting Your PC” page).

=======================
Google Chrome:
=======================
Google released Google Chrome version 68.0.3440.75 to address 42 vulnerabilities. This version also marks all HTTP sites as “not secure.” This Google blog post discusses the change in more detail and this migration guide will be of assistance to website owners in migrating to HTTPS.

Google Chrome updates automatically and will apply the update the next time Chrome is closed and then re-opened. Chrome can also be updated immediately by clicking the Options button (it looks like 3 stacked small horizontal lines, sometimes called a “hamburger” button) in the upper right corner of the window and choosing “About Google Chrome” from the menu. Follow the prompt to Re-launch Chrome for the updates to take effect.

=======================
Wireshark 2.4.8 and 2.6.2
=======================
v2.4.8: 10 security advisories

v2.6.2: 9 security advisories

As per standard process Linux distributions can obtain this update using the operating systems standard package manager (if the latest version is not installed automatically using the package manager you can instead compile the source code (v2.6.2) or v2.4.8). This forum thread and this forum thread may also be helpful to you with installing Wireshark on your Linux based system.

For Mac OS X and Windows, the update is available within the downloads section of the Wireshark website. In addition, a detailed FAQ for Wireshark is available here.

June 2018 Update Summary

=======================
Update: 12th June 2018:
=======================
As scheduled Microsoft released their monthly security updates earlier today resolving 50 vulnerabilities. Further details are available within their Security Updates Guide.

In addition; there are 5 knowledge base articles detailing potential issues (all of which are pending resolutions) you may experience upon installing these updates. They are listed below for your reference:

4284819
4284835
4284826
4284867
4284880

====================
Adobe have not released any further updates since their out of band (un-scheduled) update last week.

As always; you can monitor the availability of security updates for most your software from the following websites (among others) or use one of the utilities presented on this page.
—————
US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) (please see the “Information on Security Updates” heading of the “Protecting Your PC” page):

https://www.us-cert.gov/

A further useful source of update related information is the Calendar of Updates. News/announcements of updates in the categories of General Software, Security Software and Utilities are available on their website. The news/announcements are very timely and (almost always) contain useful direct download links as well as the changes/improvements made by those updates (where possible).

If you like and use it, please also consider supporting that entirely volunteer run website by donating.

====================
For this month’s Microsoft updates, I will prioritize the order of installation below. A useful list of all CVEs for this month is present here courtesy of BleepingComputer:
====================

CVE-2018-8267 | Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability (a zero day (defined) vulnerability disclosed last month)

Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer (similar to many other months; multiple versions of Edge and IE affected with many of the CVEs affecting the Microsoft Scripting Engine))

CVE-2018-8225 | Windows DNSAPI Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

CVE-2018-8231 | HTTP Protocol Stack Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (especially if your server hosts a Microsoft IIS installation)

====================
Please install the remaining updates at your earliest convenience.

As usual; I would recommend backing up the data on any device for which you are installing updates to prevent data loss in the rare event that any update causes unexpected issues. I have provided further details of updates available for other commonly used applications below.

Thank you.

=======================
Original Post:
=======================
I usually write this post on or very shortly after Update Tuesday (the second Tuesday) of the month but with an Adobe Flash zero day vulnerability (defined) already patched and given that Mozilla have also released an update this month; I felt an earlier post would be appropriate.

I’ll update this post as further updates are made available. Thank you.

=======================
Mozilla Firefox:
=======================
Early in June Mozilla made available security updates for Firefox and Firefox ESR (Extended Support Release):

6th June: Firefox 60.0.2 and Firefox ESR 52.8.1 and Firefox ESR 60.0.2: Resolves 1x high CVE (defined). This was a heap buffer overflow.

Further details of the security issues resolved by these updates are available in the link above. Details of how to install updates for Firefox are here. If Firefox is your web browser of choice, if you have not already done so, please update it as soon as possible to resolve these security issues.

In the final week of June Mozilla made available security updates for Firefox and Firefox ESR (Extended Support Release):

=======================
26th June:
=======================
Firefox 61: Resolves 6x critical CVEs (defined), 5x high CVEs, 6x moderate CVEs, 1x low CVE

Firefox ESR 60.1: Resolves 5x critical CVEs, 4x high CVEs and 6x moderate CVEs.

Firefox ESR 52.9: Resolves 2x critical CVEs, 4x high CVEs, 3x moderate CVEs.

Further details of the security issues resolved by these updates are available in the links above. Details of how to install updates for Firefox are here. If Firefox is your web browser of choice, if you have not already done so, please update it as soon as possible to resolve these security issues.
=======================

=======================
Update: 19th June
=======================
=======================
Apple Security Updates: Update: 19th June
=======================
Following Apple’s release of security updates in the final days of May; they have made available further updates detailed below:

macOS High Sierra 10.13.5, Security Update 2018-003 Sierra, Security Update 2018-003 El Capitan: Resolves 39x CVEs (defined)

Safari 11.1.1: Resolves 14x CVEs

Apple iCloud for Windows (version 7.5): Resolves 17x CVEs

Apple Xcode version 9.4.1: Resolves 2x CVEs

Apple SwiftNIO 1.8.0: Resolves 1 CVE (For your reference: What is Apple SwiftNIO?)

As always; further details of these updates are available on Apple’s dedicated security updates page.

For advice on how to install updates for Apple devices, please see the steps detailed at the end of this Sophos blog post as well as this link (from my “Protecting Your PC” page).

Please find below summaries of other notable updates released this month.

Thank you.

=======================
F-Secure Security Products:
=======================
As mentioned in a previous post; 7-Zip has been updated to version 18.05 to resolve a vulnerability in it’s RAR packing code. The F-Secure products listed in this security advisory utilise this 7-Zip DLL (defined) and are thus being updated for the same reason.

If you use these F-Secure products, please install this critical update as soon as possible.

=======================
Google Chrome:
=======================
Google released Google Chrome version 67.0.3396.87 to address 1 vulnerability.

Google Chrome updates automatically and will apply the update the next time Chrome is closed and then re-opened. Chrome can also be updated immediately by clicking the Options button (it looks like 3 stacked small horizontal lines, sometimes called a “hamburger” button) in the upper right corner of the window and choosing “About Google Chrome” from the menu. Follow the prompt to Re-launch Chrome for the updates to take effect.

=======================
VMware
=======================
VMWare issued updates for the following products on the 11th and 28th of June to address 1 and 3 vulnerabilities respectively:

11th June:

• VMware AirWatch Agent for Android (A/W Agent)
• VMware AirWatch Agent for Windows Mobile (A/W Agent)

26th June:

• VMware vSphere ESXi (ESXi)
• VMware Workstation Pro / Player (Workstation)
• VMware Fusion Pro, Fusion (Fusion)

Please review the above linked to security advisories and apply the necessary updates if you use these products.

=======================
OpenSSL
=======================
On the 12th of June; the OpenSSL Foundation issued updates for OpenSSL to address 1x low security vulnerability detailed in this security advisory. To resolve this please update your OpenSSL installations to 1.1.0i or 1.0.2p (as appropriate).

FTP mirrors to obtain the necessary downloads are available from here.

Downloadable Tarballs (compressed/packaged code made for distribution) are available from here.

It should also be possible to use the package manager of a Linux/Unix operating system to update your OpenSSL installation as mentioned within the section titled “Installing updates for Linux distributions” on the “Protecting Your PC” page of this blog.

=======================
Intel Lazy Floating Point Vulnerability:
=======================
Please see my separate post for details.