March Patch Tuesday followed by PDF viewer patches

Major kernel issue and PDF problems fixed, spreadsheet software remains vulnerable.

Microsoft released the March security bulletin this week, with the monthly Patch Tuesday updates rather lighter than usual. On the same day, Adobe released some important patches for its widely used PDF viewing software.

From Microsoft came a single 'critical' fix for the Windows kernel, covering a possible remote-access exploit, alongside two 'important' patches for problems in the SChannel systems and DNS and WINS server software. To the disappointment of many, a patch for some serious vulnerabilities in Excel was not forthcoming.

Meanwhile, Adobe issued patches for its Acrobat 9 and Reader 9 software, addressing some of the PDF exploitation problems which have become rife in recent months, and has promised further updates for other versions of its products in the next few weeks.

The official Microsoft bulletin is here, and the Adobe announcement here. Comment on the patches - and the lack of patches - is at ESET here, with a detailed breakdown at Symantec here.

F-Secure is continuing a campaign to persuade users to diversify to a wider range of PDF-viewing software, to reduce the threat surface. The company is giving equal billing to updates for the speedy Foxit reader on its blog here.

12 March 2009

Tags: adobe, exploit, microsoft, patch tuesday, pdf, update, vulnerability. del.icio.us digg this