Security News

Microsoft on Tuesday issued an emergency software update to quash a security bug that's been dubbed "PrintNightmare," a critical vulnerability in all supported versions of Windows that is actively being exploited. The fix comes a week ahead of Microsoft's normal monthly Patch Tuesday release, and follows the publishing of exploit code showing would-be attackers how to leverage the flaw to break into Windows computers.

Fixing a serious security hole in the Windows Print spooler service, the patch is available for almost all versions of Windows, even Windows 7. Microsoft has deployed a patch for a vulnerability so critical that even older, unsupported versions of Windows are receiving it.

Microsoft has released an emergency patch for the PrintNightmare, a set of two critical remote code-execution vulnerabilities in the Windows Print Spooler service that hackers can use to take over an infected system. Microsoft on Tuesday released an out-of-band update for several versions of Windows to address CVE-2021-34527, the second of two bugs that were initially thought to be one flaw and which have been dubbed PrintNightmare by security researchers.

Microsoft late Tuesday pushed out an emergency patch to cover the Windows 'PrintNightmare' security flaw. The issue caused major headaches in security research circles because the exploit targets CVE-2021-1675, a vulnerability that was patched by Microsoft on June 8 and originally misdiagnosed as a low-risk privilege escalation issue.

Microsoft has shipped an emergency out-of-band security update to address a critical zero-day vulnerability - known as "PrintNightmare" - that affects the Windows Print Spooler service and can permit remote threat actors to run arbitrary code and take over vulnerable systems. "The Microsoft Windows Print Spooler service fails to restrict access to functionality that allows users to add printers and related drivers, which can allow a remote authenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges on a vulnerable system," the CERT Coordination Center said of the issue.

Microsoft is urging Azure users to update the PowerShell command-line tool as soon as possible to protect against a critical remote code execution vulnerability impacting. The issue, tracked as CVE-2021-26701, affects PowerShell versions 7.0 and 7.1 and have been remediated in versions 7.0.6 and 7.1.3, respectively.

Free micropatches addressing the actively exploited PrintNightmare zero-day vulnerability in the Windows Print Spooler service are now available through the 0patch platform. The buggy code behind this remote code execution bug is present in all versions of Windows, with Microsoft still investigating if the vulnerability can be exploited exploitable on all of them.

Microsoft has told Azure users to update PowerShell - if they are using versions 7.0 or 7.1 - to address a remote code execution vulnerability patched earlier this year. The tech giant has advised customers who manage their Azure resources using affected versions of the PowerShell task automation solution to update to versions 7.0.6 or 7.1.3.

USENIX, the not-for-profit advanced computing association, has decided to put an end to its beloved LISA sysadmin conferences, at least as a standalone event. In an online announcement, the LISA steering committee said that after 35 years of producing the "Best systems engineering content" the event "Will no longer be scheduled as a standalone conference."

UPDATE. An October patch for a critical remote code execution bug in a SonicWall VPN appliance turned out to be insufficient. SonicWall originally patched the stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability in the SonicWall Network Security Appliance, tracked as CVE-2020-5135, back in October.