Microsoft Security Bulletin MS10-046 released today

This security update resolves a publicly disclosed vulnerability in Windows Shell. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if the icon of a specially crafted shortcut is displayed. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the local user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.

This security update is rated Critical for all supported editions of Microsoft Windows. For more information, see the subsection, Affected and Non-Affected Software, in this section.

The security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting validation of shortcut icon references. For more information about the vulnerability, see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) subsection for the specific vulnerability entry under the next section, Vulnerability Information.

This security update addresses the vulnerability first described in Microsoft Security Advisory 2286198.

For customers using automatic updates, this update will automatically be applied once it is released. Customers not using automatic updates should download, test and deploy this update as quickly as possible.

As the Microsoft Security Response Center team does with every bulletin release, they will be hosting a webcast to address questions today at 1PM Pacific Time. Register now.

For more information see the following:

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS10-046 – Critical

MS10-046 Released Out-of-Band Today

J.C. Hornbeck | System Center Knowledge Engineer