Microsoft is under increasing pressure to release a security
patch for a vulnerability in its file sharing (SMB2) protocol as
more exploit code becomes available.
Earlier this month security researcher
Laurent Gaffie published a proof of concept code showing how an
attacker could crash machines with the Server Message Block 2.0
(SMB) protocol enabled.
The problem has become potentially a lot more serious with the
release of more exploit code by security researcher Stephen Fewer
that could enable attackers to take over control of targetted
computers.
According to the open-source
Metasploit Project, Fewer's code has been added to the its
penetration testing tool known as the Metasploit Framework.
The exploit works against Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and 2 and
Windows 2008 SP1 server and possibly also Windows 2008 SP2,
according to Metasploit developer
HD
Moore.
According to Metasploit, the best workaround for this
still-unpatched flaw is to disable the SMB2 protocol.
Microsoft last week issued a
quick temporary
fix for the SMB2 flaw and set the company was still working on
a security patch.
Microsoft has not yet indicated whether the patch will be
included in the October Patch Tuesday monthly security update.