Welcome back to this month’s Microsoft Patch Tuesday. Microsoft has patched 50 vulnerabilities this month, with almost a quarter of the vulnerabilities being rated as critical. The majority of the critical vulnerabilities reside in Microsoft’s browsers. Only one vulnerability, CVE-2018-8267, was disclosed prior to this month’s patch cycle.
Internet Explorer and Edge
Microsoft’s browsers received a host of critical fixes this month. As mentioned before, one vulnerability for Internet Explorer was disclosed prior to patching. Microsoft has indicated that this vulnerability is likely to be targeted by hackers in the wild. However, there are no known exploits for any of the fixed vulnerabilities at this time.
Kernel
Windows Kernel returns to Patch Tuesday with a round of fixes. The vulnerabilities had impacts of information disclosure or elevation of privilege. These vulnerabilities revolved around the mishandling of objects in memory.
Windows DNS
One of the more interesting vulnerabilities patched this month was CVE-2018-8225. An attacker would only have to send a crafted response to a target server in order to execute code with system level privileges. Because this vulnerability is easily scriptable for attackers, and grants system level access to vulnerable systems, which may potentially be critical infrastructure, the vulnerability has a high degree of likelihood for exploitation. Users should patch their systems immediately.
Office
Office also received the usual round of fixes. None of the vulnerabilities in Office were rated critical. Attackers leveraging these vulnerabilities would be able to remotely execute code with privileges equal to that of the current user, obtain sensitive information on the system, and elevate privileges. Be sure to verify the source of Office files before opening them to help protect against these kinds of vulnerabilities.
Adobe Flash Player
Adobe Flash Player received four fixes for vulnerabilities this month. This update actually was published on June 7th, as the vulnerabilities were actively being exploited in the wild. An attacker exploiting these vulnerabilities would be able to execute arbitrary code and gain access to information on the system. Since this vulnerability is actively being exploited, users should update their systems as soon as possible.
