patch Tuesday | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

Tech giant Microsoft released its last set of monthly security updates for 2022 with  fixes for 49 vulnerabilities  across its software products. Of the 49 bugs, six are rated Critical, 40 are rated Important, and three are rated Moderate in severity. The updates are in addition to  24 vulnerabilities  that have been addressed in the Chromium-based Edge browser since the start of the month. December's Patch Tuesday plugs two zero-day vulnerabilities, one that's actively exploited and another issue that's listed as publicly disclosed at the time of release. The former relates to  CVE-2022-44698  (CVSS score: 5.4), one of the  three security bypass issues  in Windows SmartScreen that could be exploited by a malicious actor to evade mark of the web (MotW) protections. It's worth noting that this issue, in conjunction with  CVE-2022-41091  (CVSS score: 5.4), has been observed being exploited by Magniber ransomware actors to deliver rogu...

Microsoft's latest round of monthly security updates has been released with fixes for  68 vulnerabilities  spanning its software portfolio, including patches for six actively exploited zero-days. 12 of the issues are rated Critical, two are rated High, and 55 are rated Important in severity. This also includes the weaknesses that were closed out by  OpenSSL  the previous week. Also separately  addressed  in Microsoft Edge at the start of the month is an actively exploited flaw in Chromium-based browsers ( CVE-2022-3723 ) that was plugged by Google as part of an out-of-band update late last month. "The big news is that  two older zero-day CVEs  affecting Exchange Server, made public at the end of September, have finally been fixed," Greg Wiseman, product manager at Rapid7, said in a statement shared with The Hacker News. "Customers are advised to update their  Exchange Server systems  immediately, regardless of whether any previousl...

Are you using the cloud or thinking about transitioning? Undoubtedly, multi-cloud and hybrid environments offer numerous benefits for organizations. However, the cloud's flexibility, scalability, and efficiency come with significant risk — an expanded attack surface. The decentralization that comes with utilizing multi-cloud environments can also lead to limited visibility into user activity and poor access management.  Privileged accounts with access to your critical systems and sensitive data are among the most vulnerable elements in cloud setups. When mismanaged, these accounts open the doors to unauthorized access, potential malicious activity, and data breaches. That's why strong privileged access management (PAM) is indispensable. PAM plays an essential role in addressing the security challenges of complex infrastructures by enforcing strict access controls and managing the life cycle of privileged accounts. By employing PAM in hybrid and cloud environments, you're not...

As many as  121 new security flaws  were patched by Microsoft as part of its Patch Tuesday updates for the month of August, which also includes a fix for a Support Diagnostic Tool vulnerability that the company said is being actively exploited in the wild. Of the 121 bugs, 17 are rated Critical, 102 are rated Important, one is rated Moderate, and one is rated Low in severity. Two of the issues have been listed as publicly known at the time of the release. It's worth noting that the 121 security flaws are in addition to  25 shortcomings  the tech giant addressed in its Chromium-based Edge browser late last month and the previous week. Topping the list of patches is  CVE-2022-34713  (CVSS score: 7.8), a case of remote code execution affecting the Microsoft Windows Support Diagnostic Tool (MSDT), making it the second flaw in the same component after  Follina  (CVE-2022-30190) to be weaponized in  real-world attacks  within three months....

Microsoft released its monthly round of Patch Tuesday updates to address  84 new security flaws  spanning multiple product categories, counting a zero-day vulnerability that's under active attack in the wild. Of the 84 shortcomings, four are rated Critical, and 80 are rated Important in severity. Also separately resolved by the tech giant are  two other bugs  in the Chromium-based Edge browser, one of which plugs another  zero-day flaw  that Google disclosed as being actively exploited in real-world attacks. Top of the list of this month's updates is  CVE-2022-22047  (CVSS score: 7.8), a case of privilege escalation in the Windows Client Server Runtime Subsystem ( CSRSS ) that could be abused by an attacker to gain SYSTEM permissions. "With this level of access, the attackers are able to disable local services such as Endpoint Detection and Security tools," Kev Breen, director of cyber threat research at Immersive Labs, told The Hacker News. "...

Microsoft on Tuesday rolled out fixes for as many as  74 security vulnerabilities , including one for a zero-day bug that's being actively exploited in the wild. Of the 74 issues, seven are rated Critical, 66 are rated Important, and one is rated low in severity. Two of the flaws are listed as publicly known at the time of release. These encompass 24 remote code execution (RCE), 21 elevation of privilege, 17 information disclosure, and six denial-of-service vulnerabilities, among others. The updates are in addition to  36 flaws  patched in the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser on April 28, 2022. Chief among the resolved bugs is  CVE-2022-26925  (CVSS score: 8.1), a spoofing vulnerability affecting the Windows Local Security Authority ( LSA ), which Microsoft describes as a "protected subsystem that authenticates and logs users onto the local system." "An unauthenticated attacker could call a method on the LSARPC interface and coerce the domain controlle...

Microsoft's Patch Tuesday updates for the month of April have addressed a  total of 128 security vulnerabilities  spanning across its software product portfolio, including Windows, Defender, Office, Exchange Server, Visual Studio, and Print Spooler, among others. 10 of the 128 bugs fixed are rated Critical, 115 are rated Important, and three are rated Moderate in severity, with one of the flaws listed as publicly known and another under active attack at the time of the release. The updates are in addition to  26 other flaws  resolved by Microsoft in its Chromium-based Edge browser since the start of the month. The actively exploited flaw ( CVE-2022-24521 , CVSS score: 7.8) relates to an elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Windows Common Log File System (CLFS). Credited with reporting the flaw are the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and CrowdStrike researchers Adam Podlosky and Amir Bazine. The second publicly-known zero-day flaw ( CVE-2022-26904 , C...

Microsoft last week announced that it intends to make generally available a feature called Autopatch as part of Windows Enterprise E3 in July 2022. "This service will keep Windows and Office software on enrolled endpoints up-to-date automatically, at no additional cost,"  said  Lior Bela, senior product marketing manager at Microsoft, in a post last week. "The second Tuesday of every month will be 'just another Tuesday.'" Windows Autopatch is intended to work with all supported versions of Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows 365 for Enterprise. Windows Server OS and Windows 365 for Business, however, are not supported. The tech giant said the feature is aimed at tackling the complexity associated with software updates in enterprise IT environments as well as closing security gaps introduced as a result of not applying patches in a timely fashion, thereby opening the door to potential new threats.  The managed service works by applying the updates acro...

Microsoft's  Patch Tuesday update  for the month of March has been made officially available with 71 fixes spanning across its software products such as Windows, Office, Exchange, and Defender, among others. Of the total 71 patches, three are rated Critical and 68 are rated Important in severity. While none of the vulnerabilities are listed as actively exploited, three of them are publicly known at the time of release. It's worth pointing out that Microsoft separately  addressed 21 flaws  in the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser earlier this month. All the three critical vulnerabilities remediated this month are remote code execution flaws impacting HEVC Video Extensions ( CVE-2022-22006 ), Microsoft Exchange Server ( CVE-2022-23277 ), and VP9 Video Extensions ( CVE-2022-24501 ). The Microsoft Exchange Server vulnerability, which was reported by researcher Markus Wulftange, is also noteworthy for the fact that it requires the attacker to be authenticated to ...

Microsoft on Tuesday rolled out its monthly security updates with  fixes for 51 vulnerabilities  across its software line-up consisting of Windows, Office, Teams, Azure Data Explorer, Visual Studio Code, and other components such as Kernel and Win32k. Among the 51 defects closed, 50 are rated Important and one is rated Moderate in severity, making it one of the rare Patch Tuesday updates without any fixes for Critical-rated vulnerabilities. This is also in addition to  19 more flaws  the company addressed in its Chromium-based Edge browser. None of the security vulnerabilities are listed as under active exploit, while of the flaws —  CVE-2022-21989  (CVSS score: 7.8) — has been classified as a publicly disclosed zero-day at the time of the release. The issue concerns a privilege escalation bug in Windows Kernel, with Microsoft warning of potential attacks exploiting the shortcoming. "Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires an attacker to...

Microsoft on Tuesday kicked off its first set of updates for 2022 by  plugging 96 security holes  across its software ecosystem, while urging customers to prioritize patching for what it calls a critical "wormable" vulnerability. Of the 96 vulnerabilities, nine are rated Critical and 89 are rated Important in severity, with six zero-day publicly known at the time of the release. This is in addition to  29 issues  patched in Microsoft Edge on January 6, 2022. None of the disclosed bugs are listed as under attack. The patches cover a swath of the computing giant's portfolio, including Microsoft Windows and Windows Components, Exchange Server, Microsoft Office and Office Components, SharePoint Server, .NET Framework, Microsoft Dynamics, Open-Source Software, Windows Hyper-V, Windows Defender, and Windows Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). Chief among them is  CVE-2022-21907  (CVSS score: 9.8), a remote code execution vulnerability rooted in the HTTP Protocol S...

Microsoft has rolled out  Patch Tuesday updates  to address multiple security vulnerabilities in Windows and other software, including one actively exploited flaw that's being abused to deliver Emotet, TrickBot, or Bazaloader malware payloads. The latest monthly release for December fixes a total of 67 flaws, bringing the total number of bugs patched by the company this year to 887, according to the  Zero Day Initiative . Seven of the 67 flaws are rated Critical and 60 are rated as Important in severity, with five of the issues publicly known at the time of release. It's worth noting that this is in addition to the  21 flaws  resolved in the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser. The most critical of the lot is  CVE-2021-43890  (CVSS score: 7.1), a Windows AppX installer spoofing vulnerability that Microsoft said could be exploited to achieve arbitrary code execution. The lower severity rating is indicative of the fact that code execution hinges on ...

Microsoft has released security updates as part of its monthly  Patch Tuesday  release cycle to address 55 vulnerabilities across Windows, Azure, Visual Studio, Windows Hyper-V, and Office, including fixes for two actively exploited zero-day flaws in Excel and Exchange Server that could be abused to take control of an affected system. Of the 55 glitches, six are rated Critical and 49 are rated as Important in severity, with four others listed as publicly known at the time of release.  The most critical of the flaws are  CVE-2021-42321  (CVSS score: 8.8) and  CVE-2021-42292  (CVSS score: 7.8), each concerning a  post-authentication remote code execution flaw  in Microsoft Exchange Server and a security bypass vulnerability impacting Microsoft Excel versions 2013-2021 respectively. The Exchange Server issue is also one of the bugs that was demonstrated at the  Tianfu Cup  held in China last month. However, the Redmond-based tech g...