Patch Tuesday update fixes three Windows filesharing bugs
Microsoft has revealed that this month’s sole security update is a fix for three problems in Windows’ filesharing system. The firm has also suggested blocking two specific ports as a secondary method of minimising the problem.
The issues involve the Server Message Block which, put simply, is part of the system Windows uses for sharing files and printer access across computers on a network. This can include the internet itself, meaning vulnerabilities give hackers a way into other computers. While Microsoft ranks the fix as critical (meaning the damage that could theoretically be done without it is high), the problems get the lowest ranking on the ‘exploitability index’, which rates how likely it is hackers will attempt to use them.
That usually signifies that there’s no evidence hackers have already figured out a way to exploit the problem, though in this case it’s also down to the fact that the worst-case scenario is particularly unlikely. In Vista and Server 2008, the worst that hackers can do with the vulnerability is a denial of service attack — the computer equivalent of repeatedly phoning a company’s telephone switchboard to jam all the lines.
