08.27.2010 - Current Activity
This is an archived copy of current activity, if you would like to see the most recent version, please click here.
Cisco Releases Advisories for Unified Communications Manager and Unified Presence
added August 25, 2010 at 01:53 pm
Cisco has released security advisories to address multiple vulnerabilities affecting Unified Communications Manager and Unified Presence.
These vulnerabilities affect the processing of Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) messages. Exploitation of these vulnerabilities may allow an attacker to cause a denial-of-service condition, which could cause an interruption of voice services.
Cisco Unified Communications Manager users and administrators are encouraged to review Cisco security advisory cisco-sa-20100825-cucm and apply any necessary updates to help mitigate the risks. Cisco Unified Presence users and administrators are encouraged to review Cisco security advisory cisco-sa-20100825-cup and apply any necessary updates to help mitigate the risks.
APWG Fax Back Phishing Education Program
added August 25, 2010 at 01:16 pm
In an effort to respond to a growing public threat by offline phishers that conduct various scams via fax, the Anti-phishing Working Group (APWG) has partnered with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to create the APWG Fax Back Phishing Education Program. This program is designed to provide telecommunications companies and Fax over Internet Protocol (FoIP) hosting firms with information that can be used to educate consumers about these types of scams. Offline phishing differs from traditional phishing in that it involves sending emails with attachments or direct faxes to individuals or businesses and is not done strictly online. Recipients of offline phishing scams are coerced to complete the fake documents and fax them back or be penalized.
In conjunction with IRS's Online Fraud Detection and Prevention (OFDP) group, APWG created a fax coversheet that can be downloaded by carriers and used to notify victims of offline phishing. This fax coversheet also provides links to other APWG resources which allow the victims to submit a complaint directly to the appropriate clearinghouse.
More information about the APWG Fax Back Phishing Education Program and the advisory fax coversheet can be found at the following
Insecure Loading of Dynamic Link Libraries in Windows Applications
added August 25, 2010 at 12:01 pm
US-CERT is aware of a class of vulnerabilities related to how some Windows applications may load external dynamic link libraries (DLLs). When an application loads a DLL without specifying a fully qualified path name, Windows will attempt to locate the DLL by searching a defined set of directories. If an application does not securely load DLL files, an attacker may be able to cause the affected application to load an arbitrary library.
By convincing a user to open a file from a location that is under an attacker's control, such as a USB drive or network share, a remote attacker may be able to exploit this vulnerability. Exploitation of this vulnerability may result in the execution of arbitrary code.
Additional information regarding this vulnerability can be found in US-CERT Vulnerability Note VU#707943. US-CERT encourages users and administrators to review the vulnerability note and consider implementing the following workarounds until fixes are released by affected vendors
- disable loading libraries from WebDAV and remote network shares
- disable the WebClient service
- block outgoing SMB traffic
Adobe Releases Security Bulletin for Shockwave Player
added August 25, 2010 at 08:15 am
Adobe has released a security update to address multiple vulnerabilities affecting Shockwave Player 11.5.7.609 and earlier versions. These vulnerabilities may allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code.
US-CERT encourages users and administrators to review Adobe security bulletin APSB10-20 and upgrade to Adobe Shockwave Player 11.5.8.612 to help mitigate the risks.
Apple Releases Security Update 2010-005
added August 25, 2010 at 08:15 am
Apple has released security update 2010-005 to address multiple vulnerabilities affecting the ATS, CFNetwork, ClamAV, CoreGraphics, libsecurity, PHP, and Samba applications. These vulnerabilities may allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code, obtain sensitive information, cause a denial-of-service condition, or impersonate hosts within a domain.
US-CERT encourages users and administrators to review Apple article HT4312 and apply any necessary updates to help mitigate the risks.
Microsoft Releases Security Advisory
added August 24, 2010 at 11:42 am
Microsoft has released a security advisory indicating that it is aware of a remote attack vector for a class of vulnerabilities related to how applications load external dynamic link libraries (DLLs). If an application does not securely load DLL files, an attacker may be able to cause the application to load an arbitrary library. By convincing a user to open a file from a location that is under an attacker's control, such as a USB drive or network share, a remote attacker may be able exploit this vulnerability. Exploitation of this vulnerability may result in the execution of arbitrary code or elevation of privileges.
At this time, US-CERT is aware of reports of publicly available exploit code for this vulnerability.
US-CERT encourages users and administrators to review Microsoft security advisory 2269637 and consider implementing the workarounds listed in the document. Please note that these workarounds may reduce the functionality of the affected systems. Workarounds include
- disabling the loading of libraries from WebDAV and remote network shares
- disabling the WebClient service
- blocking TCP ports 139 and 445 at the firewall
VideoLAN Releases a Security Advisory for VLC Media Player
added August 20, 2010 at 10:47 am
VideoLAN has released a security advisory to address a vulnerability in VLC Media Player. This vulnerability may allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial-of-service condition. The updated release also addresses additional issues that could result in a denial-of-service attack.
US-CERT encourages users and administrators to review VideoLAN security advisory VideoLAN-SA-1004 and apply any necessary updates or workarounds to help mitigate the risks.
Google Releases Chrome 5.0.375.127
added August 20, 2010 at 08:47 am
Google has released Chrome 5.0.375.127 for Windows, Mac, and Linux to address multiple vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities may allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code, cause a denial-of-service condition, or conduct spoofing attacks.
US-CERT encourages users and administrators to review the Google Chrome Releases blog entry and apply any necessary updates to help mitigate the risks.
Adobe Releases Security Update for Adobe Reader and Acrobat
added August 19, 2010 at 03:27 pm
Adobe has released an update for Reader and Acrobat to address multiple vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities affect the following versions:
- Adobe Reader 9.3.3 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh, and UNIX
- Adobe Acrobat 9.3.3 and earlier versions for Windows and Macintosh
Exploitation of these vulnerabilities may allow an attacker to cause a denial-of-service condition or execute arbitrary code.
US-CERT encourages users and administrators to review Adobe Security Bulletin APSB10-17 and apply any necessary updates to help mitigate the risks.
Cisco IOS Software Vulnerability
added August 16, 2010 at 04:14 pm
Cisco has released a security advisory to address a vulnerability affecting IOS Software Release 15.1(2)T. This vulnerability may allow an attacker to cause a denial-of-service condition by sending a specially crafted packet through normal network traffic.
US-CERT encourages users and administrators to review Cisco advisory cisco-sa-20100812-tcp and apply any necessary updates to help mitigate the risks.