Latest Security Advisories & Notable Vulnerabilities

Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player before 13.0.0.269 and 14.x through 16.x before 16.0.0.305 on Windows and before 11.2.202.442 on Linux allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors, as exploited in the wild in February 2015.

Trend Micro researcher Peter Pi discovered and disclosed details about this vulnerability to Adobe. The said company acknowledged Pi's research contribution.

This vulnerability exists in the way the Flash Player mitigates memory randomization. It exists in several versions of Adobe Flash Player installed in Windows environments.

Adobe has released security updates for Adobe Flash Player for Windows, Macintosh and Linux. These updates address vulnerabilities that could potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. Adobe recommends users update their product installations to the latest versions.

• (MS15-001) Vulnerability in Windows Application Compatibility Cache Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (3023266)
  Risk Rating: Important
  
  This security update resolves a publicly disclosed vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerability could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker logs on to a system and runs a specially crafted application. An authenticated attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could bypass existing permission checks that are performed during cache modification in the Microsoft Windows Application Compatibility component and execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges.



• (MS15-002) Vulnerability in Windows Telnet Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution (3020393)
  Risk Rating: Critical
  
  This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if an attacker sends specially crafted packets to an affected Windows server. Only customers who enable this service are vulnerable. By default, Telnet is installed but not enabled on Windows Server 2003. Telnet is not installed by default on Windows Vista and later operating systems.



• (MS15-003) Vulnerability in Windows User Profile Service Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (3021674)
  Risk Rating: Important
  
  This security update resolves a publicly disclosed vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerability could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker logs on to the system and runs a specially crafted application. A local attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary code on a target system with elevated privileges. An attacker must have valid logon credentials and be able to log on locally to exploit the vulnerability.



• (MS15-004) Vulnerability in Windows Components Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (3025421)
  Risk Rating: Important
  
  This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerability could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker convinces a user to run a specially crafted application. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the current user. If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.



• (MS15-005) Vulnerability in Network Location Awareness Service Could Allow Security Feature Bypass (3022777)
  Risk Rating: Important
  
  This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerability could allow security feature bypass by unintentionally relaxing the firewall policy and/or configuration of certain services when an attacker on the same network as the victim spoofs responses to DNS and LDAP traffic initiated by the victim.



• (MS15-006) Vulnerability in Windows Error Reporting Could Allow Security Feature Bypass (3004365)
  Risk Rating: Important
  
  This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Windows Error Reporting (WER). The vulnerability could allow security feature bypass if successfully exploited by an attacker. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain access to the memory of a running process. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.



• (MS15-007) Vulnerability in Network Policy Server RADIUS Implementation Could Cause Denial of Service (3014029)
  Risk Rating: Important
  
  This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerability could allow denial of service on an Internet Authentication Service (IAS) or Network Policy Server (NPS) if an attacker sends specially crafted username strings to the IAS or NPS. Note that the denial of service vulnerability would not allow an attacker to execute code or to elevate user rights; however, it could prevent RADIUS authentication on the IAS or NPS.



• (MS15-008) Vulnerability in Windows Kernel-Mode Driver Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (3019215)
  Risk Rating: Important
  
  This security update resolves one privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerability could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker runs a specially crafted application on an affected system. An attacker must have valid logon credentials and be able to log on locally to exploit the vulnerability.

Microsoft addresses the following vulnerabilities in its December batch of patches: