Microsoft December 2012 Black Tuesday Update - Overview

Published: 2012-12-11
Last Updated: 2012-12-12 01:54:45 UTC
by John Bambenek (Version: 1)
6 comment(s)

Overview of the December 2012 Microsoft patches and their status.

 

# Affected Contra Indications - KB Known Exploits Microsoft rating(**) ISC rating(*)
clients servers
MS12-077 Internet Explorer Cumulative Patch
(Replaces MS12-063 MS12-071 )
Internet Explorer 9/10

CVE-2012-2545

CVE-2012-4781
CVE-2012-4782
CVE-2012-4787
KB 2761465 No. Severity:Critical
Exploitability: 1
Critical Critical
MS12-078 Windows Kernel Mode Drivers Remote Execution
(Replaces MS12-032 MS12-075 )
Kernel mode drivers
CVE-2012-2556
CVE-2012-4786
KB 2783534 No. Severity:Critical
Exploitability: 1
Critical Important
MS12-079 Microsoft Word RTF Data Remote Code Execution
(Replaces MS12-064 )
Word
CVE-2012-2539
KB 2780642 No. Severity:Critical
Exploitability: 1
Critical N/A
MS12-080 Windows Exchange Server Remote Code Execution
(Replaces MS12-058 )
Exchange Server

CVE-2012-3214

CVE-2012-3217

CVE-2012-4791

KB 2784126 Yes. Severity:Critical
Exploitability: 1
N/A Critical
MS12-081 Windows File Handling Remote Code Execution
(Replaces MS07-035 MS11-063 )
Windows
CVE-2012-4774
KB 2758857 No. Severity:Critical
Exploitability: 1
Critical Critical
MS12-082 DirectPlay Remote Code Execution
DirectPlay
CVE-2012-1537
KB 2770660 No. Severity:Important
Exploitability: 1
Critical Important
MS12-083 IP-HTTPS Security Feature Bypass
Direct Access

CVE-2012-2549

 

KB 2765809 No. Severity:Important
Exploitability: 1
Important Important
We will update issues on this page for about a week or so as they evolve.
We appreciate updates
US based customers can call Microsoft for free patch related support on 1-866-PCSAFETY
(*): ISC rating
  • We use 4 levels:
    • PATCH NOW: Typically used where we see immediate danger of exploitation. Typical environments will want to deploy these patches ASAP. Workarounds are typically not accepted by users or are not possible. This rating is often used when typical deployments make it vulnerable and exploits are being used or easy to obtain or make.
    • Critical: Anything that needs little to become "interesting" for the dark side. Best approach is to test and deploy ASAP. Workarounds can give more time to test.
    • Important: Things where more testing and other measures can help.
    • Less Urgent: Typically we expect the impact if left unpatched to be not that big a deal in the short term. Do not forget them however.
  • The difference between the client and server rating is based on how you use the affected machine. We take into account the typical client and server deployment in the usage of the machine and the common measures people typically have in place already. Measures we presume are simple best practices for servers such as not using outlook, MSIE, word etc. to do traditional office or leisure work.
  • The rating is not a risk analysis as such. It is a rating of importance of the vulnerability and the perceived or even predicted threat for affected systems. The rating does not account for the number of affected systems there are. It is for an affected system in a typical worst-case role.
  • Only the organization itself is in a position to do a full risk analysis involving the presence (or lack of) affected systems, the actually implemented measures, the impact on their operation and the value of the assets involved.
  • All patches released by a vendor are important enough to have a close look if you use the affected systems. There is little incentive for vendors to publicize patches that do not have some form of risk to them.

(**): The exploitability rating we show is the worst of them all due to the too large number of ratings Microsoft assigns to some of the patches.

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--
John Bambenek
bambenek /at/ gmail.com
Bambenek Consulting

6 comment(s)
Adobe Published Security Bulletin for Flash and Coldfusion, more here: http://blogs.adobe.com/psirt/2012/12/adobe-security-bulletins-posted-3.html
ISC StormCast for Tuesday, December 11th 2012 http://isc.sans.edu/podcastdetail.html?id=2995

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