Microsoft has released seven patches for several of its
software products, including at least two critical updates for
known vulnerabilities.
One critical patch is for Microsoft Windows Media Player, as
well as four patches for Windows, at least one of which is
critical.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has warned of two bugs in its software that
could potentially give unauthorised control or access over a
person's computer, while a third problem has been highlighted by a
security research company.
One vulnerability again affects the Windows Metafile (WMF),
which caused problems in December but this time affects fewer
users. The bug is in Internet Explorer 5.01 Service Pack 4 on
Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 and IE 5.5 Service Pack 2 on Windows
Millennium. An attacker could gain control if a user opened a
malicious email attachment or if a user were persuaded to visit a
website that had a specially crafted WMF image.
A second vulnerability could allow a person with low user
privileges to gain higher-level access, while security supplier
Secunia has also detailed a third vulnerability, which affects
Microsoft's HTML Help Workshop, software that can create online
help for a software application or website content.
