Summary:
- These vulnerabilities affect: All current version of Microsoft Office Publisher and Visio
- How an attacker exploits them: By enticing you to open maliciously crafted Publisher or Visio documents
- Impact: An attacker can execute code, potentially gaining complete control of your computer
- What to do: Install the appropriate Office Publisher and Visio patches immediately, or let Microsoft’s Automatic Update do it for you.
Exposure:
Today, Microsoft released two security bulletins describing three vulnerabilities found in Microsoft Office Publisher and Microsoft Visio; two applications that belong to Microsoft’s Office line of products.
While the vulnerabilities differ technically, and affect two different applications from the Office line, they share the same general scope and impact. By enticing one of your users into downloading and opening a maliciously crafted document, an attacker can exploit any of these vulnerabilities to execute code on a victim’s computer, inheriting that user’s level of privileges and permissions. If your user has local administrative privileges, the attacker gains full control of the user’s machine.
The notable difference between these flaws lies in which document types can trigger the flaws. According to Microsoft, the vulnerable document types include Publisher documents (.PUB) and Visio files (.VSD, .VST, .VSS, .VDX).
If you’d like to learn more about each individual flaw, drill into the “Vulnerability Details” section of the security bulletins listed below:
- MS10-023: Microsoft Office Publisher Code Execution Vulnerability, rated Important
- MS10-028: MicrosoftVisio Code Execution Vulnerabilities, rated Important
Solution Path
Microsoft has released patches for Publisher and Visio to correct all of these vulnerabilities. You should download, test, and deploy the appropriate patches throughout your network immediately, or let the Microsoft Automatic Update feature do it for you.
Loading...