News
IM Patch Reissued
- By Scott Bekker
- 06/12/2002
The critical security vulnerability in some of Microsoft's instant message products that prompted an analyst at Gartner to warn IT managers away from permitting instant messaging in their enterprises has reared its head again.
Microsoft reissued the patch this week to prevent an ActiveX control at the heart of the vulnerability with MSN Chat, MSN Messenger and Exchange Instant Messenger from being reintroduced after the patch is applied.
"While the fixes issued on May 8 2002 resolved the vulnerability,
they did not protect in all cases against the reintroduction of the
vulnerable control. As a result, a new set of fixes is being released
to ensure that systems are fully protected against the reintroduction
of the vulnerable control," Microsoft stated in the updated bulletin.
The security bulletin is posted at www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS02-022.asp.
The original vulnerability allowed attackers to run code of their choice on an affected system. A Gartner analyst warned that the vulnerability had the potential to be used in a multi-pronged attack along the lines of Code Red and Nimda. The Microsoft problem prompted the Gartner warning, but Gartner noted that it was the latest in a string of vulnerabilities discovered in instant messaging products from Microsoft, AOL and Yahoo!
Meanwhile, the Microsoft repatch comes shortly after security professionals at CERT issued a warning about several problems with Yahoo! Messenger.
About the Author
Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.