Zero-day flaws imply it's time to patch Exchange and Windows

Zero-day flaws imply it is time to patch Exchange and Windows
For this month’s Patch Tuesday, Microsoft handled 84 flaws and a zero-day vulnerability affecting Microsoft Exchange that hasn’t but been totally resolved.

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This month’s Patch Tuesday replace from Microsoft offers with 84 flaws and a zero-day affecting Microsoft Exchange that for the time being stays unresolved. The Windows updates deal with Microsoft safety and networking parts with a difficult-to-test replace to COM and OLE db. And Microsoft browsers get 18 updates—nothing essential or pressing.

That leaves the main focus this month on Microsoft Exchange and deploying mitigation efforts, fairly than server updates, for the following week. More details about the dangers of deploying these Patch Tuesday updates can be found on this infographic.

Microsoft continues to enhance each its vulnerability reporting and notifications with a brand new RSS feed, and Adobe has adopted go well with with improved reporting and launch documentation. As a mild reminder, assist for Windows 10 21H1 ends in December.

Key testing eventualities

Given the massive variety of modifications included this month, I’ve damaged down the testing eventualities into high-risk and standard-risk teams:

High Risk: For October, Microsoft has not recorded any high-risk performance modifications. This means it has not made main modifications to core APIs or to the performance to any of the core parts or functions included within the Windows desktop and server ecosystems.

More typically, given the broad nature of this replace (Office and Windows), we recommend testing the next Windows options and parts:

• A GDI replace (GDIPLUS.DLL) requires testing of EMF, each 16- and 32-bit palette information (opening, printing, and creating).
• Microsoft’s Desktop Application Manager has been up to date and would require each provisioning and un-provisioning functions (each set up and uninstall testing is required).
• The Windows CLFS system has been up to date to require a brief check of making, studying, updating, and deleting log information.

In addition to those modifications and testing necessities, I’ve included among the tougher testing eventualities:

• OLE DB: The venerable Microsoft OLE DB has been up to date and requires all functions with a dependency on SQL Server 2012 or ADO.NET have to be totally examined earlier than deployment. This Microsoft COM element (OLE DB) separates knowledge from software logic by a set of connections that entry knowledge supply, session(s), SQL instructions, and row-set knowledge.
• Roaming credentials, cryptography keys, and certificates: To discover out extra about Credential Roaming, try Microsoft’s Jim Tierney’s posting and this nice introduction to Credential Roaming.
• Encrypted VPN Connections: Microsoft up to date the IKEv2 and L2TP/IPsec parts this month. Testing with distant connections ought to last more than eight hours. If you might be having hassle with this replace, Microsoft has revealed a L2TP/IPSec VPN Troubleshooting information.

Unless in any other case specified, we should always now assume every Patch Tuesday replace would require testing core printing capabilities, together with:

• printing from instantly related printers;
• giant print jobs from servers (particularly if they’re additionally area controllers);
• distant printing (utilizing RDP and VPN).

Known points

Each month, Microsoft features a checklist of identified points that relate to the working system and platforms included on this replace cycle.

• Devices with Windows installations created from customized offline media or a customized ISO picture may need Microsoft Edge Legacy eliminated by this replace, however not routinely changed by the brand new Microsoft Edge. Resolving this problem would require a full/new set up of Microsoft Edge.
• Microsoft SharePoint: This replace may have an effect on some SharePoint 2010 workflow eventualities. It additionally generates “6ksbk” occasion tags in SharePoint Unified Logging System (ULS) logs.

One reported problem with the newest Microsoft Servicing Stack Update (SSU) KB5018410 is that Group Policy preferences could fail. Microsoft is engaged on an answer; within the meantime, the corporate posted the next mitigations:

Major revisions

So far, Microsoft has not revealed any main revisions to its safety advisories. 

Mitigations and workarounds

There are two mitigations and 4 work-arounds for this October Patch Tuesday, together with:

• CVE-2022-41803: Visual Studio Code Elevation. Microsoft revealed a fast work-around for this safety vulnerability that claims: “Create a folder C:ProgramDatajupyterkernels and configure it to be writable solely by the present consumer.”
• CVE-2022-22041: Windows Print Spooler Elevation. Microsoft’s revealed work-around recommendation for managing this vulnerability is to cease the printer spooler service on the goal machine utilizing the next PowerShell instructions, “Stop-Service -Name Spooler -Force, and Set-Service -Name Spooler -StartupType Disabled.” This will cease the native print spooler on the machine and any printing providers utilized by that system.

Microsoft has additionally famous that for the next reported community vulnerabilities, these techniques should not affected if IPv6 is disabled and may be mitigated with the next PowerShell command: “Get-Service Ikeext:”

• CVE-2022-37976: Windows TCP/IP Driver Denial of Service Vulnerability;
• CVE-2022-34721: Windows Internet Key Exchange (IKE) Protocol Extensions;
• CVE-2022-3471, CVE-2022-33645 and CVE-2022-34718: Windows TCP/IP Remote Code Execution Vulnerability.

Each month, we break down the replace cycle into product households (as outlined by Microsoft) with the next primary groupings:

• Browsers (Microsoft IE and Edge);
• Microsoft Windows (each desktop and server);
• Microsoft Office;
• Microsoft Exchange;
• Microsoft Development platforms ( ASP.NET Core, .NET Core and Chakra Core);
• Adobe (retired???, perhaps subsequent 12 months).

Browsers

Microsoft launched 18 updates to Edge (Chromium). Only CVE-2022-41035 particularly applies to the browser, whereas the remainder are Chromium associated. You can discover this month’s launch observe right here. These are low profile, non-critical patches to Microsoft’s newest browser; they are often added to your commonplace launch schedule.

Windows

Microsoft delivers patches for 10 essential and 57 essential vulnerabilities that cowl the next function teams within the Windows platform:

• Windows Networking (DNS, TLS, distant entry and the TCP/IP stack);
• Cryptography (IKE extensions and Kerberos);
• Printing (once more);
• Microsoft COM and OLE DB;
• Remote Desktop (Connection Manager and APIs).

One COM+ object-related vulnerability (CVE-2022-41033) has been reported as exploited within the wild. This makes issues robust for patch and replace deployment groups. Testing COM objects is usually tough because of the enterprise logic required and contained throughout the software. Also, figuring out which functions depend upon this function just isn’t easy. This is very the case for in-house developed or line-of-business functions as a consequence of enterprise criticality. We advocate assessing, isolating, and testing core enterprise apps which have COM and OLE dB dependencies earlier than a common deployment of the October replace. Add this Windows replace to your “Patch Now” schedule.

On the lighter facet of issues, Microsoft has launched one other Windows 11 replace video.

Microsoft Office

This month we get two essential updates (CVE-2022-41038 and CVE-2022-38048) and 4 updates rated as essential to the Microsoft Office platform. Unless you might be managing a number of SharePoint servers, it is a comparatively low-profile replace, with no Preview Pane-based assault vectors and no studies of exploits within the wild. If you or your crew skilled points with Microsoft Outlook crashing (sorry, “closing”) final month, Microsoft has provides the next recommendation:

Given these modifications and low-profile updates, we recommend that you simply add these Office patches to your commonplace launch schedule.

Microsoft Exchange Server

We ought to have began with the Microsoft Exchange updates this month. The essential remote-pcode execution vulnerabilities (CVE-2022-41082 and CVE-2022-41040) in Exchange have been reported as exploited within the wild and haven’t been resolved with this safety replace. There are patches obtainable, and they’re official from Microsoft. However, these two updates to Microsoft Exchange Server don’t totally repair the vulnerabilities.

The Microsoft Exchange Team weblog makes this level explicitly in the midst of a launch observe:

“The October 2022 SUs don’t comprise fixes for the zero-day vulnerabilities reported publicly on September 29, 2022 (CVE-2022-41040 and CVE-2022-41082). Please see this weblog publish to use mitigations for these vulnerabilities. We will launch updates for CVE-2022-41040 and CVE-2022-41082 when they’re prepared.”

Microsoft has revealed mitigation recommendation for these severe Exchange safety points, protecting:

• CVE-2022-41040: Exchange Emergency Mitigation Service
• CVE-2022-41082: Disable Remote PowerShell for Exchange

We advocate implementing each the URL and PowerShell mitigations for all of your Exchange servers. Watch this area, as we’ll see an replace from Microsoft within the upcoming week. 

Microsoft growth platforms

Microsoft has launched 4 updates (all rated essential) for Visual Studio and .NET. Though all 4 vulnerabilities (CVE-2022-41032, CVE-2022-41032, CVE-2022-41034 and CVE-2022-41083) have commonplace entries within the Microsoft Security Update Guide (MSUG), the Visual Studio crew has additionally revealed these 17.3 Release notes. (And, similar to Windows 11, we even get a video.) All 4 of those updates are low-risk, low-profile updates to the event platform. Add these to your commonplace developer launch schedule.

Adobe (actually simply Reader)

Adobe Reader has been up to date (APSB22-46) to resolve six reminiscence associated vulnerabilities. With this launch, Adobe has additionally up to date launch documentation to incorporate Known Issues and deliberate Release Notes. These notes cowl each Windows and MacOS and each variations of Reader (DC and Continuous). All six reported vulnerabilities have the bottom Adobe ranking, 3, which Adobe helpfully provides the next patch recommendation for: “Adobe recommends directors set up the replace at their discretion.”

We agree — add these Adobe Reader updates to your commonplace patch deployment schedule.

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