Everyone should upgrade to DirectX 9.0b - closes DirectX security hole...

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FlyingPenguin
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Everyone should upgrade to DirectX 9.0b - closes DirectX security hole...

Post by FlyingPenguin »

I posted something about this a month ago. Only Microsoft could leave a security exploit that would allow a friggin' MIDI file to infect your computer...

http://www.neowin.net/comments.php?id=1 ... at%2008-19
Microsoft seems to have survived the MSBlast worm attack, but now the company is urging Windows users to patch their systems against a different, and potentially more dangerous, vulnerability in its software. Even though most businesses have installed the patch for MSBlast, there is another vulnerability that could overshadow last week's events. On July 23, Microsoft posted a security bulletin on its Web site that describes a "critical" vulnerability in DirectX. According to the company, unprotected systems could be at the mercy of an attacker by simply playing a midi file or visiting a malicious Web page.

The danger comes, says Microsoft, in a component of DirectX that relies on a library file called quartz.dll, which is used by a number of applications--including Internet Explorer--to play MIDI files. A specially designed MIDI file could cause a buffer overflow error and either pass control of the system to an attacker, cause damage to the system or use the system to set off another MSBlast-type attack. Russ Cooper, chief scientist at security company TruSecure, expects a worm or virus to take advantage of the vulnerability in the near future: "We are definitely afraid of the DirectX vulnerability."

The vulnerability, he said, is very widespread because few people have applied the patch for this. Cooper believes it could be exploited by a worm that uses several methods of spreading, similar to the way that MSBlast did.
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Red Dawn
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Post by Red Dawn »

Would you be safe behind a firewall?
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Post by FlyingPenguin »

NO. This is, in some ways, WORSE than the MSBlaster DCOM exploit.

All you have to do is play a friggin' MIDI file - either one you download, one you receive as an attachment or (most nefarious) one that's played automatically as background music on a web page.
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sethpa
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Post by sethpa »

I "think" I've updated to 9.0 b, Sandra just tells me 9.0, any other way to check? Or should I just install it again to be on the safe side? Thanks.
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Absolut Talent
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Post by Absolut Talent »

ok....well how can I update dx to v9.0b (i got a) when the windows update web is fucked?

every different addy I go to gives me a "thank you for your interest" message...


fuck you Bill Gates and your shitty monopoly with programs that dont work half the time. And the other half when it does work it leaves us open wider than Jenna Jameson after a 5 on 1 match

:p

but I am glad I didnt pay for my windows....they dont deserve my money for this crap. I shall try linux soon


BTW Sethpa- go to your start button and go to run and start up your dxdiag. It will tell you there
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Post by BillyGoat »

when it does work it leaves us open wider than Jenna Jameson after a 5 on 1 match

my coffee just went threw the nose :p
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Post by FlyingPenguin »

SETHPA, go to Windows Update and see if it offers DirectX 9.0b as an update.
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Post by sethpa »

Tried it, doesn't offer it. Says no updates needed, so guess it's ok. But I didn't get the 9.0b update off the update page in the first place. Got it someplace else, though I sure don't remember where........... It's still residing on my hard drive in my saved files, so I know it didn't come from the update page.

I'm going to try and install it, just to be on the safe side :) Thanks, FP
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Post by FlyingPenguin »

If it's not offered, then it's installed.
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