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FIB - Scams 101 - Ye Olde Archives

Good Catch, Robert -- This One Is Serious

Posted By: Tom Brownsword
Tuesday, 3 January 2006, at 10:20 a.m.

In Response To: Security Issue-WMF (Robert N)

> Greetings Fibers!
> I havent posted anything around here in a long time. But I thought I had
> better post this as I run out the door. There is a serious security hole
> in the windows platform. Its about windows metafiles. I wouldnt begin to
> explain it. If you go to grc.com its steve gibsons site. He is on top of
> it. Fib helped out a few years ago so I decided to pass this on. I didnt
> want to see anybody get slammed-have a productive day

Please take a few minutes to go to http://www.grc.com and click on the link to read about this problem and the two work-arounds. One involves de-registering a DLL -- not complicated -- and installing an official patch, which can be a problem at the moment because the download site is apparently overloaded and isn't responding.

Oh -- regardless of the problems involved in reaching the site, DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE PATCH FROM ANY OTHER LOCATION. I trust Steve Gibson and the Internet Storm Center, but I would not trust too many other sources that provide the patch! I can almost see the smiles on the faces of malicious individuals as they prepare to blast out spam e-mail with "links to alternate download sites" -- or even worse, attachments allegedly containing the patch -- either of which will compromise your machine. So don't trust any source except for the one listed on Steve Gibson's site.

And check out the Internet Storm Center (which is run by SANS, an outstanding security organization -- and one of my daily stops as I surf the Internet), too; their Handler's Diary from January 1 (available at http://isc.sans.org/diary.php?rss&storyid=996) contains a no-B.S. plea to use the workarounds until Microsoft gets around to issuing a patch. And be sure to bookmark the GRC page so that you'll have access to the instructions to re-register the DLL and uninstall the unofficial patch once Microsoft issues an official patch.

So please: stop what you're doing, go to the ISC site and read the post, then go to the GRC site and de-register the DLL and install the patch. Now. And then come back and thank Robert.

Thanks for listening,
Tom Brownsword
Certified Computer Security Professional

Protect and Preserve Your Business

Messages in This Thread

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Security Issue-WMF (views: 1005)
Robert N -- Tuesday, 3 January 2006, at 5:37 a.m.
- Good Catch, Robert -- This One Is Serious (views: 1040)
  Tom Brownsword -- Tuesday, 3 January 2006, at 10:20 a.m.

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