Microsoft ’ s updates for the Meltdown microprocessor mega-flaw inadvertently left users running Windows 7 64-bit systems open to a “ way worse ” flaw , a researcher has claimedVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability. To recap , Meltdown ( aka F * * CKWIT or CVE-2017-5754 ) is a proof-of-concept hardware vulnerability uncoveredVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilityalmost simultaneously by several groups of researchers through which an attacker could access the contents of kernel memory ( passwords , encryption keys , say ) from the part used by ordinary applications . An extremely inviting target for any attacker , which is why Microsoft sprang into action to mitigateVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitythe vulnerability ( in addition to BIOS updates from vendors ) across different Windows versions in two rounds of updatesVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilityin January and February . But according to Ulf Frisk , something went awry starting with the January update when applied to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 , which miss-set controlling permissions for something called the Page Map Level 4 ( PML4 ) . This is a table used by Intel microprocessors to “ translate the virtual addresses of a process into physical memory addresses in RAM. ” Set correctly , only the kernel should be able to access this table . The result of the issue is that an attacker aware of the flaw would have the ability to break out of the application space and take over a system . All this from a simple software mistake : No fancy exploits were needed . Windows 7 already did the hard work of mapping in the required memory into every running process . Exploitation was just a matter of read and write to already mapped in-process virtual memory . No fancy APIs or syscalls required – just standard read and write !
Overall , the chip giant patchedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilityfive vulnerabilities across an array of its products . Intel on Tuesday patchedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitythree high-severity vulnerabilities that could allow the escalation of privileges across an array of products . Overall , the chip giant fixedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilityfive bugs – three rated high-severity , and two medium-severity . The most concerning of these bugs is an escalation-of-privilege glitch in Intel ’ s PROset/Wireless Wi-Fi software , which is its wireless connection management tool . The vulnerability , CVE-2018-12177 , has a “ high ” CVSS score of 7.8 , according to Intel ’ s update . “ Intel is releasingVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitysoftware updates to mitigateVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitythis potential vulnerability , ” it said , urging users to updateVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilityto version 20.90.0.7 or later of the software . The vulnerability , reportedVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilityby Thomas Hibbert of Insomnia Security , stems from improper directory permissions plaguing the software ’ s ZeroConfig service in versions before 20.90.0.7 . The issue could allow an authorized user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via local access . The other high-severity bug exists inVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilitythe company ’ s System Support Utility for Windows , which offers support for Intel-packed Windows device users . This bug ( CVE-2019-0088 ) is due to insufficient path checking in the support utility , allowing an already-authenticated user to potentially gain escalation of privilege via local access . The vulnerability has a CVSS score of 7.5 . Versions of System Support Utility for Windows before 2.5.0.15 are impactedVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability; Intel recommendsVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilityusers updateVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilityto versions 2.5.0.15 or later . Independent security researcher Alec Blance was credited with discoveringVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilitythe flaw . The chip-maker also patchedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitya high-severity and medium-severity flaw in its Software Guard Extensions ( SGX ) platform and software , which help application developers to protect select code and data from disclosure or modification . “ Multiple potential security vulnerabilities in Intel SGX SDK and Intel SGX Platform Software may allow escalation of privilege or information disclosure , ” saidVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilityIntel . The high-severity flaw in SGX ( CVE-2018-18098 ) has a CVSS score of 7.5 and could allow an attacker with local access to gain escalated privileges . The vulnerability is rooted inVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilityimproper file verification in the install routine for Intel ’ s SGX SDK and Platform Software for Windows before 2.2.100 . It was discoveredVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilityby researcher Saif Allah ben Massaoud . Another vulnerability in the platform ( CVE-2018-12155 ) is only medium in severity , but could allow an unprivileged user to cause information disclosure via local access . That ’ s due to data leakageAttack.Databreachin the cryptographic libraries of the SGX platform ’ s Integrated Performance Primitives , a function that provides developers with building blocks for image and data processing . And finally , a medium escalation of privilege vulnerability in Intel ’ s SSD data-center tool for Windows has been patchedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability. “ Improper directory permissions in the installer for the Intel SSD Data Center Tool for Windows before v3.0.17 may allow authenticated users to potentially enable an escalation of privilege via local access , ” saidVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilityIntel ’ s update . The company recommends users update to v3.0.17 or later . Intel ’ s patch comesVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilityduring a busy patch Tuesday week , which includes fixes from Adobe and Microsoft .
The Internet Systems Consortium patchedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitythe BIND domain name system this week , addressingVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitya remotely exploitable vulnerability it considers high severity and said could lead to a crash . The issue affectsVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilityservers that use both the DNS64 and RPZ function simultaneously . DNS64 is a mechanism for synthesizing AAAA records from A records . It ’ s traditionally used to allow IPv6-only clients to receive IPv6 addresses proxied to IPv4 addresses . The RPZ mechanism is used by Domain Name System recursive resolvers to allow for the customized handling of the resolution of collections of domain name information . Versions 9.8.8 , 9.9.3-S1 , 9.9.3 , 9.9.10b1 , 9.10.0 , and 9.10.5b1 , 9.11.0 are all considered vulnerableVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability, according to the ISC . When servers use both mechanisms simultaneously , a vulnerability ( CVE-2017-3135 ) that stems from query processing could result in an inconsistent state , triggering either an INSIST assertion failure or an attempt to read through a NULL pointer , according to a security advisory publishedVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilityWednesday . The INSIST assertion failure could lead to a subsequent abort , ISC said , while the NULL pointer in some instances can lead to a segmentation fault , which causes the process to be terminated . Ramesh Damodaran and Aliaksandr Shubnik , engineers at Infoblox , a Silicon Valley firm that does DNS , DHCP and IP management , uncoveredVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilitythe vulnerability and reportedVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilityit to the ISC . Damodaran previously helped identifiedVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilityan unspecified packet processing remote denial of service vulnerability in BIND 9 . The Internet Systems Consortium patchedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitythe BIND domain name system this week , addressingVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitywhat it calls a critical error condition in the software . Researchers find industrial control system malware similar to BlackEnergy , Havex , and Stuxnet going undetected on Google VirusTotal for years . The Internet Systems Consortium ( ISC ) announced it is planning to patchVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilityversions of its DHCP to mitigateVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitya denial of service vulnerability .