Adobe, Microsoft Push Critical Updates

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Adobe has issued security updates to fix weaknesses in its PDF Reader, Cold Fusion and Flash Player products. Microsoft meanwhile today released 16 update bundles to address dozens of security flaws in Windows, Internet Explorer and related software.

Microsoft’s patch batch includes updates for “zero-day” vulnerabilities (flaws that attackers figure out how to exploit before before the software maker does) in Internet Explorer (IE) and in Windows. Half of the 16 patches that Redmond issued today earned its “critical” rating, meaning the vulnerabilities could be exploited remotely through no help from the user, save for perhaps clicking a link, opening a file or visiting a hacked or malicious Web site.

According to security firm Shavlik, two of the Microsoft patches tackle issues that were publicly disclosed prior to today’s updates, including bugs in IE and the Microsoft .NET Framework.

Anytime there’s a .NET Framework update available, I always uncheck those updates to install and then reboot and install the .NET updates; I’ve had too many .NET update failures muddy the process of figuring out which update borked a Windows machine after a batch of patches to do otherwise, but your mileage may vary.

On the Adobe side, the Flash update fixes a single vulnerability that apparently is already being exploited in active attacks online. However, Shavlik says there appears to be some confusion about how many bugs are fixed in the Flash update.

“If information gleaned from [Microsoft’s account of the Flash Player update] MS16-064 is accurate, this Zero Day will be accompanied by 23 additional CVEs, with the release expected on May 12th,” Shavlik wrote. “With this in mind, the recommendation is to roll this update out immediately.”

As far as Flash is concerned, the smartest option is probably best to hobble or ditch the program once and for all — and significantly increase the security of your system in the process. I’ve got more on that approach (as well as slightly less radical solutions ) in A Month Without Adobe Flash Player.

If you choose to update, please do it today. The most recent versions of Flash should be available from the Flash home page. Windows users who browse the Web with anything other than Internet Explorer may need to apply this patch twice, once with IE and again using the alternative browser (Firefox, Opera, e.g.). Chrome and IE should auto-install the latest Flash version on browser restart (I had to manually restart Chrome to get the latest Flash version).

If you use Adobe Reader to display PDF documents, you’ll need to update that, too. Alternatively, consider switching to another reader that is perhaps less targeted. Adobe Reader comes bundled with a number of third-party software products, but many Windows users may not realize there are alternatives, including some good free ones. For a time I used Foxit Reader, but that program seems to have grown more bloated with each release. My current preference is Sumatra PDF; it is lightweight (about 40 times smaller than Adobe Reader) and quite fast.

Finally, if you run a Web site that in any way relies on Adobe’s Cold Fusion technology, please update your software soon. Cold Fusion vulnerabilities have traditionally been targeted by cyber thieves to compromise countless online shops.