WMF flaw could have far-reaching enterprise impact: Gartner

Microsoft vulnerability warnings are pretty much an accepted part of IT life but the latest vulnerability could have wide-ranging implications, says Gartner. In a notice published yesterday by researchers Amrit T. Williams, Jay Heiser and Neil MacDonald, Gartner warns that ‘this critical vulnerability could damage many enterprise systems, not just those that directly use the affected process’.

The vulnerability in question is in the graphics rendering engine that processes Windows Metafile (WMF) objects. Microsoft has issued security advisory 912840 ‘Vulnerability in Graphics Rendering Engine Could Allow Remote Code Execution’ detailing the vulnerability and CERT CC issued a warning about the issue earlier this week.

Gartner advises companies to monitor the Microsoft security portal for updated information and for patch availability and to ‘distribute the patch as soon as logistically possible’. Companies are also warned to prepare for the possibility that it may become necessary to unregister the vulnerable library from Windows. This would affect any application or image that uses Microsoft’s image rendering.

•Date: 5th Jan 2006• Region: World • Type: Article •Topic: Warnings
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