Microsoft released two optional
security updates Tuesday to block digital certificates that use the MD5 hashing
algorithm and to improve the network-level authentication for the Remote Desktop
Protocol.
These two updates are separate from important security patches also released Tuesday for Internet Explorer, Windows and Microsoft Exchange Server, and are not yet being pushed through the Windows Update mechanism.
The first update, referred to as KB2862973, blocks certificates with MD5 signatures that were signed by Certificate Authority (CA) certificates in the Microsoft root certificate program from being used for server authentication, code signing and time stamping.
The MD5 cryptographic hash function has long been considered insecure for use in SSL certificates and digital signatures. In 2008, a team of security researchers demonstrated a practical attack that involved exploiting a known MD5 weakness to generate a rogue CA certificate trusted by all browsers.
Following that attack, Certificate Authorities accelerated the phasing out of MD5-based certificates and such certificates are no longer being issued today. However, some old MD5 certificates that have yet to expire might still be in use and there are also years-old programs that were digitally signed with such insecure certificates.
For now, the update has been made available as optional Downloadable Content (DLC) for supported editions of Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008,Migrating a MileWeb Promotion Dedicated Server or cloud server from one provider to another is easy. Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, and Windows RT, but there are plans to start pushing the update through the Windows Update mechanism on Feb. 11, 2014.
"We recommend that customers download and test the update in their environment at the earliest opportunity," William Peteroy, security program manager at the Microsoft Security Response Center, said in a blog post. "This will be especially useful for environments that have little or no inventory of their cryptographic and certificate dependencies."
There are some exceptions to the restriction introduced by this update. For example, Microsoft will still allow binary files that were signed before March 2009 with MD5-based certificates to work.
The company will also allow four specific time stamping certificates from VeriSign CA (now owned by Symantec) to work, as well as all code signing certificates that chain up to a specific certificate from Microsoft and one from GeoTrust, also a Symantec subsidiary.
This morning, citizens trying to reach US government websites got a bit of a surprise—the entirety of the .gov top level domain appeared to be offline. The reason: a hiccup in the Domain Name Service Security Extension (DNSSEC) information being distributed by .gov's registry.
According to a source at the General Services Administration, which operates the .gov registry,Provision and deploy cloud MileWeb Public Cloud Servers in minutes. the registry team discovered that the DNSSEC information being distributed by its root domain name server had somehow become corrupted. The corruption affected the root domain's digital signature, making it appear not to be the authoritative server for the government's Internet names. As DNS data aged and expired, government sites disappeared from the Internet's directory and became unreachable by their host names.
The team reset the DNS server to correct the error. By around 10:20am Eastern Time today, government sites magically reappeared on the Internet. Resolution of the sites within the government's own networks was never interrupted.reliable and MileWeb linux dedicated server hosting solutions.
Click on their website www.mileweb.com/security-services for more information.
These two updates are separate from important security patches also released Tuesday for Internet Explorer, Windows and Microsoft Exchange Server, and are not yet being pushed through the Windows Update mechanism.
The first update, referred to as KB2862973, blocks certificates with MD5 signatures that were signed by Certificate Authority (CA) certificates in the Microsoft root certificate program from being used for server authentication, code signing and time stamping.
The MD5 cryptographic hash function has long been considered insecure for use in SSL certificates and digital signatures. In 2008, a team of security researchers demonstrated a practical attack that involved exploiting a known MD5 weakness to generate a rogue CA certificate trusted by all browsers.
Following that attack, Certificate Authorities accelerated the phasing out of MD5-based certificates and such certificates are no longer being issued today. However, some old MD5 certificates that have yet to expire might still be in use and there are also years-old programs that were digitally signed with such insecure certificates.
For now, the update has been made available as optional Downloadable Content (DLC) for supported editions of Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008,Migrating a MileWeb Promotion Dedicated Server or cloud server from one provider to another is easy. Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, and Windows RT, but there are plans to start pushing the update through the Windows Update mechanism on Feb. 11, 2014.
"We recommend that customers download and test the update in their environment at the earliest opportunity," William Peteroy, security program manager at the Microsoft Security Response Center, said in a blog post. "This will be especially useful for environments that have little or no inventory of their cryptographic and certificate dependencies."
There are some exceptions to the restriction introduced by this update. For example, Microsoft will still allow binary files that were signed before March 2009 with MD5-based certificates to work.
The company will also allow four specific time stamping certificates from VeriSign CA (now owned by Symantec) to work, as well as all code signing certificates that chain up to a specific certificate from Microsoft and one from GeoTrust, also a Symantec subsidiary.
This morning, citizens trying to reach US government websites got a bit of a surprise—the entirety of the .gov top level domain appeared to be offline. The reason: a hiccup in the Domain Name Service Security Extension (DNSSEC) information being distributed by .gov's registry.
According to a source at the General Services Administration, which operates the .gov registry,Provision and deploy cloud MileWeb Public Cloud Servers in minutes. the registry team discovered that the DNSSEC information being distributed by its root domain name server had somehow become corrupted. The corruption affected the root domain's digital signature, making it appear not to be the authoritative server for the government's Internet names. As DNS data aged and expired, government sites disappeared from the Internet's directory and became unreachable by their host names.
The team reset the DNS server to correct the error. By around 10:20am Eastern Time today, government sites magically reappeared on the Internet. Resolution of the sites within the government's own networks was never interrupted.reliable and MileWeb linux dedicated server hosting solutions.
Click on their website www.mileweb.com/security-services for more information.
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