HP PCs Broadcom Integrated NIC Vulnerability

There has been found a vulnerability affecting various HP Small Form Factor and Microtower PCs. The vulnerability may allow an attacker to remotely compromise a vulnerable system. This is caused by an unspecified error within the Broadcom Integrated NIC firmware.

Affected products are:

HP Compaq 6005 Pro Microtower PC
HP Compaq 6005 Pro Small Form Factor PC
HP Compaq dc5700 Microtower
HP Compaq dc5700 Small Form Factor
HP Compaq dc5750 Microtower
HP Compaq dc5750 Small Form Factor
HP Compaq dc5850 Small Form Factor
HP Compaq dc5850 Microtower
HP Compaq dc7600 Convertible
HP Compaq dc7600 Microtower
HP Compaq dc7600 Small Form Factor
HP Compaq dx7200 Microtower
HP rp3000 Point of Sale
HP rp5700 Business Desktop
HP rp5700 Point of Sale

Broadcom Integrated NIC Management Firmware for HP PCs versions prior to 1.40.0.0
Broadcom Integrated NIC Management Firmware for HP PCs versions prior to 8.08

Solution is to update firmware to version 1.40.0.0 or 8.08. Firmware upgrade can be downloaded here.


More information:
HP support document
VUPEN security advisory

Safari 4.0.5 Fixes A Bunch of Vulnerabilities

Apple has released a new version of their Safari web browser. Version 4.0.5 contains fixes to 16 security vulnerabilities.

Safari users can get fresh copy here.

More information about the security content of Safari 4.0.5 can be read here.

Pointer Related Vulnerability In Internet Explorer

Microsoft has published an advisory in which they state that they are investigating public reports of a vulnerability affecting Internet Explorer web browser versions 6 and 7. Microsoft states that Internet Explorer 8 version is not affected.

The vulnerability is caused by an invalid pointer reference being used within Internet Explorer. Under specific conditions it is possible to access invalid pointer after an object is deleted. By exploiting this vulnerability in specific way, Internet Explorer can be used to allow remote code execution.

People in Microsoft are aware of targeted attacks attempting to use the vulnerability. They state that they will continue to monitor the situation and take appropriate action to protect the customers.

The advisory can be found here.

Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for March 2010

Microsoft has released security updates for March 2010. This month update consists of two updates that both are categorized as important:
MS10-016: Vulnerability in Windows Movie Maker Could Allow Remote Code Execution (975561)
MS10-017: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Excel Could Allow Remote Code Execution (980150)

A new version of Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) was released too.

More information can be read from the bulletin summary.

For consumer the easist way to get the update is to use Microsoft Update service.

Unpatched Vulnerability In Opera

There has been found a new vulnerability in Opera web browser. The vulnerability is caused by a buffer overflow error when processing malformed HTTP "Content-Length:" headers. By exploiting the vulnerability an attacker could make browser crash or execute arbitrary code by tricking a user into visiting a web page hosted on a malicious web server.

Affected are Opera 10.50 and earlier versions. At the moment, there is no patch available. Opera users should avoid visiting untrusted sites and clicking dubious links.

NSS Labs Browser Security Test Q1 2010 Report

NSS Labs has published a report of a test they made to compare how different browsers managed against socially-engineered malware.

Tested browsers were:
-Apple Safari 4
-Google Chrome 4
-Microsoft Internet Explorer 8
-Mozilla Firefox 3.5
-Opera 10

The test winner was Internet Explorer 8 that had won two earlier made tests too. It was able to stop 85% of malicious URLs. The second place was shared by Safari 4 and Firefox 3.5, both able to stop 29% of live threats.

The full report can be read here.

Microsoft Investigating A New Internet Explorer Related Issue

Microsoft has published a blog entry in which they state that they are investigating issue that could allow an attacker to could allow an attacker to host a maliciously crafted web page and run arbitrary code if they could convince a user to visit the web page and then get them to press the F1 key in response to a pop up dialog box.

The issue in question involves the use of VBScript and Windows Help files in Internet Explorer. Windows Help files are included in a long list of what we refer to as “unsafe file types”. These are file types that are designed to invoke automatic actions during normal use of the files.

According to Microsoft, users running Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista, are not affected by the issue.

There is not released a workaround solution for affected systems yet. Microsoft has promised to provide new information when it becomes available.