Weekend Vulnerability & Patch Report, July 10, 2011

The following software updates were released last week. Citadel Information Group strongly recommends that readers upgrade these programs on their computers.

WordPress 3.2: WordPress has released version 3.2. Readers having websites built in WordPress should refer their web developer to the WordPress announcement.

Newly Announced Unpatched Vulnerabilities (Zero-Days)

Microsoft Visio: A highly critical vulnerability has been found in Visio 2003. It is not yet known if other versions are affected. Readers need to be alert to the danger of opening a Visio file sent in an unexpected email and to Visio files downloaded from the Internet. The general rule is to refrain from opening untrusted Visio files.

Security Warning

iPhone, iPad PDF Exploits: We reported in this week’s Cyber Security News of the Week that iPhones and iPads can be compromised simply by opening a specially crafted PDF file. Readers need to be alert to the danger of opening a PDF file sent in an unexpected email and to PDFs downloaded from the Internet. The general rule is to refrain from opening untrusted PDFs on Apple iDevices.

Important Unpatched Zero-Day Vulnerabilities.

ACDSee Photo: Several highly critical zero-day vulnerabilities have been identified in various ACDSee photo products. Zero-day vulnerabilities have been identified in FotoSlate, Photo Editor 2008, and Picture Frame Manager. No patches are available at this time. We first alerted readers to this vulnerability in Weekend Vulnerability and Patch Report, June 12.

Apple Safari 5.x: The critical zero-day vulnerability in Safari 5.x continues to be unpatched. We continue to consider Safari unsafe for browsing. We first alerted readers to this vulnerability in Weekend Vulnerability and Patch Report, February 18.

HTC Mobile Devices: The zero-day security vulnerability in the default Twitter application (Peep) in HTC products remain unpatched. We first alerted readers to this vulnerability in Weekend Vulnerability and Patch Report, February 11.

Microsoft Word: A highly critical zero-day vulnerability has been found in Microsoft Word XP and 2002. No patch is available at this time. We first alerted readers to this vulnerability in Weekend Vulnerability and Patch Report, June 19.

Microsoft Office for Mac: A highly critical zero-day vulnerability has been discovered in Microsoft Office for the Mac which can be exploited by cyber criminals to take control of a user’s computer. Security updates are currently unavailable. We first alerted readers to this vulnerability in Weekend Vulnerability & Patch Report, May 13, 2011.

Microsoft Reader: The highly critical zero-day vulnerability in Microsoft Reader, versions 2.x, remains unpatched.  We first alerted readers to this vulnerability in Weekend Vulnerability and Patch Report, April 15.

PDF-Pro: Several highly critical zero-day vulnerabilities in PDF-Pro, a popular alternative to Adobe Acrobat, remain unpatched. We first alerted readers to this vulnerability in Weekend Vulnerability and Patch Report, March 4.

Symantec Mail Security: Multiple highly critical zero-day vulnerabilities have been reported in Symantec Mail Security. Systems affected include Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange 6.x, Domino 7.x and Domino 8.x. No patches are available at this time. Readers in corporate environments using Microsoft Exchange or Domino are urged to forward this notice to their IT personnel so they may take appropriate action. We first alerted readers to this vulnerability in Weekend Vulnerability and Patch Report, June 12.

If you are responsible for keeping your computer secure, our weekly report is for you. We strongly urge you to take action to keep your workstation secure.

If someone else is responsible for keeping your computer secure, protect it by forwarding our Weekend Vulnerability and Patch Report to them and following up to make sure your computer has been patched.

Vulnerability management is a key element of cyber security management. Cyber criminals take over user computers by writing computer programs that “exploit” vulnerabilities in operating systems (Windows, Apple OS, etc) and application programs (Adobe Acrobat, Office, Flash, Java, etc). When software companies find a vulnerability, they will issue an update patch to fix the code running in their customer’s computers.

Citadel publishes our Weekend Vulnerability and Patch Report to alert readers to some of the week’s important updates and vulnerabilities. Our focus is on software typically found in the small or home office (SOHO) or that users are likely to have on their home computer. The report is not intended to be a thorough listing of updates and vulnerabilities.