erroneo.us
Search all guides⌘K

Digest · Tuesday

Security digest: December 11, 2018

1 editorial brief.

All digests · RSS · Markdown

Take stock

  • Check exposure: Windows Win32k CVE-2018-8639: 2018 EoP Added to KEV. Owners of Windows 7, 8.1, Server 2008, 2012 or early Windows 10/Server 2016/2019 machines that have not installed any update since December 2018, especially internet-facing IIS or SQL Server hosts.
  • None of it touches your stack? Then there is nothing to do today. That is a result, not a failure to read carefully.

Editorial briefs

Check exposure

· Vulnerability · CVE-2018-8639

Windows Win32k CVE-2018-8639: 2018 EoP Added to KEV

Fixed in December 2018 and covered by every Windows update since; the risk is legacy servers that have not been patched in years, which attackers have used this public exploit on to get SYSTEM.

Must act: Owners of Windows 7, 8.1, Server 2008, 2012 or early Windows 10/Server 2016/2019 machines that have not installed any update since December 2018, especially internet-facing IIS or SQL Server hosts.

Can relax: Anyone whose Windows machines receive monthly updates; every cumulative update or rollup since December 2018 includes the fix.

  1. Find Windows hosts that have not installed updates in years, using your patch tool or Get-HotFix | Sort-Object InstalledOn.
  2. Update any machine still lacking the December 2018 fixes, or isolate and replace it if it is out of support.
  3. Replace Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 machines: their paid Extended Security Updates ended October 13, 2026.

Read the brief →

Known exploited (CISA KEV) 0

Added to CISA’s catalog on this day: confirmed exploitation in the wild. Due date = CISA’s deadline for US federal agencies.

None.

Critical advisories by ecosystem 0

GitHub-reviewed advisories rated critical, published this day (Pacific time).

None.