January 13, 2009 - Current Activity

Oracle Releases Critical Patch Update for January 2009

Oracle has released their Critical Patch Update for January 2009 to address 41 vulnerabilities across several products. This update contains the following security fixes:

• 10 updates for Oracle Database
• 1 update for Oracle Times Ten Data Server
• 9 updates for Oracle Secure Backup
• 4 updates for Oracle Application Server
• 1 update for Oracle Collaboration Suite
• 4 updates for Oracle Application Suite
• 1 update for Oracle Enterprise Manager
• 6 updates for PeopleSoft and JDEdwards Suite
• 5 updates for BEA Products Suite

Microsoft Releases January Security Bulletin

Microsoft has released the Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for January 2009. Included in this bulletin is an update to address a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. This vulnerability may allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code.

US-CERT encourages users and administrators to review the bulletin and follow best-practice security policies to determine which updates should be applied.

BlackBerry Security Advisories

Research In Motion has released Security Advisories KB17118 and KB17119 to address vulnerabilities in the PDF Distiller of the BlackBerry Attachment Service for BlackBerry Unite and BlackBerry Enterprise Server. The vulnerabilities are due to the improper processing of PDF files within the Distiller component of the BlackBerry Attachment Service. By convincing a user to open a maliciously crafted PDF attachment on a BlackBerry smartphone, an attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code on the system running the BlackBerry Attachment Service.

US-CERT encourages users to review BlackBerry Security Advisories KB17118 and KB17119 and apply the updates or implement the workarounds listed in the documents to help mitigate the risk.

US-CERT will provide additional information as it becomes available.

Oracle Issues Pre-Release Announcement for January Critical Patch Update

Oracle has issued a Pre-Release Announcement indicating that its January Critical Patch Update (CPU) will contain 41 new security fixes across hundreds of products.

The announcement further states that there is/are:

• 10 updates for Oracle Database
• 1 update for Oracle Times Ten Data Server
• 9 updates for Oracle Secure Backup
• 4 updates for Oracle Application Server
• 1 update for Oracle Collaboration Suite
• 4 updates for Oracle Application Suite
• 1 update for Oracle Enterprise Manager
• 6 updates for PeopleSoft and JDEdwards Suite
• 5 updates for BEA Products Suite

Malicious Code Circulating via Israel/Hamas Conflict Spam Messages

US-CERT is aware of public reports of malicious code circulating via spam email messages related to the Israel/Hamas conflict in Gaza. These messages may contain factual information about the conflict and appear to come from CNN. Additionally, the messages indicate that additional news coverage of the conflict can be viewed by following a link provided in the email body. If users click on this link, they are redirected to a bogus CNN website that appears to contain a video.  Users who attempt to view this video will be prompted to update to a new version of Adobe Flash Player in order to view the video. This update is not a legitimate Adobe Flash Player update; it is malicious code. If users download this executable file, malicious code may be installed on their systems.

US-CERT encourages users and administrators to take the following preventative measures to help mitigate the security risks:

• Install antivirus software, and keep the virus signatures up to date.
• Do not follow unsolicited links and do not open unsolicited email messages.
• Use caution when visiting untrusted websites.
• Use caution when downloading and installing applications.
• Obtain software applications and updates directly from the vendor's website.
• Refer to the Recognizing and Avoiding Email Scams (pdf) document for more information on avoiding email scams.
• Refer to the Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks document for more information on social engineering attacks.

Microsoft Releases Advance Notification for January Security Bulletin

Microsoft has issued a Security Bulletin Advance Notification indicating that the January release cycle will contain one bulletin, which will have a severity rating of Critical. The notification states that this Critical bulletin is for Microsoft Windows. Release of this bulletin is scheduled for Tuesday, January 13.

US-CERT will provide additional information as it becomes available.

Cisco Releases Security Advisory for Global Site Selector

Cisco has released a Security Advisory to address a vulnerability in the Application Control Engine Global Site Selector (GSS). By sending a specially crafted sequence of DNS requests, a remote attacker may be able to cause a denial-of-service condition.

US-CERT encourages users and administrators to review Cisco Security Advisory cisco-sa-20090107-gss and apply any necessary updates or workarounds to help mitigate the risks.

OpenSSL Releases Security Advisory

The OpenSSL project has released a Security Advisory to address a vulnerability in OpenSSL. This vulnerability results from several incorrect checks of the result of the EVP_VerifyFinal function when performing signature checks on DSA and ECDSA keys used with SSL/TLS. As a result, a malformed signature could be treated as valid. Exploitation of this vulnerability may allow a remote attacker to bypass signature checks and conduct spoofing attacks.

US-CERT encourages users and administrators to review the OpenSSL Security Advisory and apply any vendor released updates for the OpenSSL package or upgrade to the newest version of the software as described in the OpenSSL advisory.

Rogue MD5 SSL Certificate Vulnerability

US-CERT is aware of a public report describing how MD5 collisions can be leveraged to generate rogue SSL CA certificates. A rogue CA certificate could be used by an attacker to generate valid SSL certificates for arbitrary web sites. Using these certificates in DNS redirection attacks, an attacker could spoof an SSL protected web site and obtain sensitive information.

US-CERT encourages users to review VU#836068 in the Vulnerability Notes Database. 

US-CERT will provide additional information as it becomes available.

Worm Exploiting Vulnerability described in MS08-067

US-CERT is aware of a public report of a worm circulating that has the capability of exploiting the patched vulnerability described in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-067.

US-CERT encourages users to do the following to help mitigate the risks:

• Review Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-067 and apply the update or workarounds listed.
• Install antivirus software, and keep the virus signatures up to date.