Fergie's Tech Blog

Microsoft Fixes Excel, Carpet-Bombing Security Flaws

Robert McMillan writes on InfoWorld:

Microsoft has fixed critical flaws in its Windows, Office, and Internet Explorer software in the company's largest set of security patches this year.

Released Tuesday, the updates fix a number of well-known problems in the company's software, including vulnerabilities in Excel and the WordPad text converter that have been exploited by attackers in a small number of online attacks.

A few other known bugs also were fixed Tuesday, including some issues in Windows and Internet Explorer that could be used to pull off a so-called carpet-bombing attack, and Windows flaws that could give attackers extra privileges on a Windows machine.

All told, Microsoft released eight software updates, fixing dozens of bugs in its products. Five of the updates are rated critical by Microsoft, meaning they fix flaws that could be exploited by attackers to run unauthorized software on a computer.

posted by Fergie @ 4/14/2009 04:52:00 PM