clifford_cooley
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Source link - http://tech.icrontic.com/news/windows-aero-flaw-in-64-bit-windows-7-and-server-2008-r2/
Microsoft yesterday released a Security Advisory warning users of a fatal flaw in a base driver essential to the operation of the 64-bit editions of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.
Dubbed the “Canonical Display Driver,” the driver is used to run Aero, the glitzy user interface found in these OSes.
“The Canonical Display Driver is used by desktop composition to blend the Windows Graphics Device Interface (GDI) and DirectX drawing… If exploited, it would likely cause the affected system to stop responding and restart,” said Microsoft’s Jerry Bryant in a blog update.
“Code execution, while possible in theory, would be very difficult due to memory randomization both in kernel memory and via Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR). Additionally, this vulnerability only affects Windows systems if they have the Aero theme installed; Aero is not switched on by default in Windows Server 2008 R2, nor does 2008 R2 include Aero-capable graphics drivers by default.”
Bryant went on to indicate that flaw probably isn’t a big deal, noting that Microsoft has awarded it a vulnerability rating of 3, lowest on the exploit scale. Further, there don’t seem to be any public exploits that target this particular flaw.
For now, if you are concerned with this breach, disable Windows Aero and wait for Microsoft to release a patch, likely arriving on June 8.