Josh Wieder

UPDATE: Microsoft has released a patch for CVE-2021-40444 as of  9-14 ... but that doesn't mean its been installed on your systems yet, so check! The KB varies by distro, but it should be around KB5005565-KB5005568 for recent Windows 10 x64 versions. CVE-2021-40444 is a new remote code execution vulnerability in Windows that involves embedded ActiveX controls in Office document files (.doc, .docx, .docm, .dochtml).  All versions of Windows, including Server distros, are impacted. Exploits of this vulnerability are in the wild now. The Windows preview pane plays a role in the vulnerability; I haven't seen an example of the exploit, but Microsoft's recommended steps for mitigation involve disabling the preview pane for relevant file types. No security patch is available yet, but it is possible to mitigate the threat. Below, I've embedded code for a registry key that you can use to automatically patch your Windows 10 PC. The registry key simply automates Microsoft's r

Click here for the second post on this topic, which includes more detailed technical information. Hector Monsegur, formerly sabu of Lulzsec, has offered his point of view on this post. Get his opinion by reading my third post on the topic. In my fourth post on this topic, I explain how malware is not limited to the Stratfor leak torrent - curated links throughout the Wikileaks.Org website allow users to download individual infected files . This series of posts is beginning to receive coverage from several newspapers around the world. German speakers should check out the story in Neue Zürcher Zeitung / New Zurich Times . For English speakers, I recommend The Register from the UK for an excellent summary of these findings . Beginning in  February 27, 2012 , the controversial news organization Wikileaks has been publishing a large and growing trove of emails from the private intelligence firm  Strategic Forecasting, Inc (more widely known as  Stratfor). The leak publication bega