December 2015 Microsoft Patch Tuesday

Special Note: MS15-127 looks particularly "nasty". A remote code execution vulnerability in Microsoft's DNS server. Microsoft rates the exploitability as "2", but doesn't provide much details as to the nature of the vulnerability other than the fact that it can be triggered by remote DNS requests, which is bad news in particular if you are using a Microsoft DNS server exposed to the public internet. In this case, I would certainly expedite this patch. This is the vulnerability to look out for this time around.

Overview of the December 2015 Microsoft patches and their status.

#	Affected	Contra Indications - KB	Known Exploits	Microsoft rating(**)	ISC rating(*)
#	Affected	Contra Indications - KB	Known Exploits	Microsoft rating(**)	clients	servers
MS15-124	Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (Replaces MS15-124 )
MS15-124	Internet Explorer CVE-2015-6083, CVE-2015-6134, CVE-2015-6135, CVE-2015-6136, CVE-2015-6138, CVE-2015-6139, CVE-2015-6140, CVE-2015-6141, CVE-2015-6142, CVE-2015-6143, CVE-2015-6144, CVE-2015-6145, CVE-2015-6146, CVE-2015-6147, CVE-2015-6148, CVE-2015-6149, CVE-2015-6150, CVE-2015-6151, CVE-2015-6152, CVE-2015-6153, CVE-2015-6154, CVE-2015-6155, CVE-2015-6156, CVE-2015-6157, CVE-2015-6158, CVE-2015-6159, CVE-2015-6160, CVE-2015-6161, CVE-2015-6162, CVE-2015-6162	KB 3116180	no.	Severity:Critical Exploitability: 1-4	Critical	Critical
MS15-125	Cumulative Security Update for Microsoft Edge (Replaces MS15-112 )
MS15-125	Microsoft Edge CVE-2015-6139 CVE-2015-6140, CVE-2015-6142, CVE-2015-6148, CVE-2015-6151, CVE-2015-6153, CVE-2015-6154, CVE-2015-6155, CVE-2015-6158, CVE-2015-6159, CVE-2015-6161, CVE-2015-6168, CVE-2015-6169, CVE-2015-6170, CVE-2015-6176	KB 3116184	no.	Severity:Critical Exploitability: 1-4	Critical	Critical
MS15-126	Cumulative Security Update for JScript and VBScript (Replaces MS15-066 )
MS15-126	JScript/VBScript (IE8,Vista and 2008 only) CVE-2015-6135 CVE-2015-6136	KB 3116178	no.	Severity:Critical Exploitability: 2,1	Critical	Critical
MS15-127	Remote Code Execution in Microsoft Windows DNS (Replaces MS12-017 )
MS15-127	Microsoft DNS Server CVE-2015-6125	KB 3100465	no.	Severity:Critical Exploitability: 2	N/A	Critical
MS15-128	Remote Code Execution Vulnerability in Microsoft Graphics Component (Replaces MS15-115 )
MS15-128	various components (.Net, Lync, Silverlight, Skype..) CVE-2015-6106 CVE-2015-6107 CVE-2015-6108	KB 3104503	no.	Severity:Critical Exploitability: 1,1,1	Critical	Critical
MS15-129	Remote Code Execution in Microsoft Silverlight (Replaces MS15-080 )
MS15-129	Silverlight CVE-2015-6114 CVE-2015-6165 CVE-2015-6166	KB 3106614	no.	Severity:Critical Exploitability: 2,2,1	Critical	Important
MS15-130	Remote Code Execution in Microsoft Uniscribe (Replaces MS14-036 )
MS15-130	Uniscribe CVE-2015-6130	KB 3108670	no.	Severity:Critical Exploitability: 3	Critical	Important
MS15-131	Remote Code Execution Vulnerability in Microsoft Office (Replaces MS15-116 )
MS15-131	Office CVE-2015-6040 CVE-2015-6118 CVE-2015-6122 CVE-2015-6124 CVE-2015-6172 CVE-2015-6177	KB 3116111	no.	Severity:Critical Exploitability: 1,1,1,1,1,1	Critical	Important
MS15-132	Remote Code Execution in Microsoft Windows (Replaces MS15-122 MS15-115 )
MS15-132	Windows CVE-2015-6128 CVE-2015-6132 CVE-2015-6133	KB 3116162	no.	Severity:Important Exploitability: 2,2,2	Critical	Important
MS15-133	Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in Windows PGM
MS15-133	Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ) CVE-2015-6126	KB 3116130	no.	Severity:Important Exploitability: 2	Important	Important
MS15-134	Remote Code Execution in Windows Media Center (Replaces MS15-100 )
MS15-134	Windows Media Center CVE-2015-6127 CVE-2015-6131	KB 3108669	no.	Severity:Important Exploitability: 2,2	Critical	Important
MS15-135	Privilege Elevation Vulnerability in Windows Kernel-Mode Drivers (Replaces MS15-122 MS15-115 )
MS15-135	Kernel-Mode Drivers (Library Loading) CVE-2015-6171 CVE-2015-6173 CVE-2015-6174 CVE-2015-6175	KB 3119075	yes (CVE-2015-6175).	Severity:Important Exploitability: 1,1,1,4	Important	Important

We will update issues on this page for about a week or so as they evolve.
We appreciate updates
US based customers can call Microsoft for free patch related support on 1-866-PCSAFETY

(*): ISC rating

We use 4 levels:
- PATCH NOW: Typically used where we see immediate danger of exploitation. Typical environments will want to deploy these patches ASAP. Workarounds a\ re typically not accepted by users or are not possible. This rating is often used when typical deployments make it vulnerable and exploits are being used or easy to obtain or make.
- Critical: Anything that needs little to become "interesting" for the dark side. Best approach is to test and deploy ASAP. Workarounds can give more tim\ e to test.
- Important: Things where more testing and other measures can help.
- Less Urt practices for servers such as not using outlook, MSIE, word etc. to do traditional office or leisure work.
- The rating is not a risk analysis as such. It is a rating of importance of the vulnerability and the perceived or even predicted threatatches.

---
Johannes B. Ullrich, Ph.D.
STI|Twitter|LinkedIn

I will be teaching next: Defending Web Applications Security Essentials - SANS London August 2021

Johannes

4191 Posts
ISC Handler

Dec 8th 2015

Thread locked Subscribe

Dec 8th 2015
5 years ago

Anyone besides me notice that out of the 15 patches for Edge, 11 are shared with IE? Sorta makes you wonder how much of a "rewritten from scratch" code base it really is, no? :)

dullroar

2 Posts

Quote

Dec 8th 2015
5 years ago

Early testing in our Windows 7 x64 Office 2010 environment has resulted in:

All machines launching Outlook in 'Safe Mode'.

Views, default settings and font preferences all blown out.

After last Month's attempt to get MS to pull a patch; 20 points of contact and 10+ hours wasted.

I will not be contacting them.

Microsoft... You are broken!!!

I pay you $20k+ a year for what?

AnAdmin

10 Posts

Quote

Dec 8th 2015
5 years ago

The chart only renders properly in IE and Chrome, it fails in Firefox 42.

stoomart

2 Posts

Quote

Dec 8th 2015
5 years ago

After much time removing updates one by one, I have determined that the broken KB that is causing Outlook to launch in Safe Mode is:

KB3114409

MICROSOFT:

PLEASE PULL KB3114409 from Windows Update and STOP BREAKING COMPUTERS.

AnAdmin

10 Posts

Quote

Dec 8th 2015
5 years ago

I have KB3114409 installed on 2 systems so far and don't see any problems.

Win7Pro/64bit - Office 2010/32bit

I did experience a problem where one computer froze at 15% during the Windows Update reboot. I let it sit for 40 mins before I did a hard reset. All was well after the reset thankfully!!

K-Dee

68 Posts

Quote

Dec 8th 2015
5 years ago

It definitely broke the 3 machines I began testing on.

There are a million reasons for something to appear in our production environment and not on another machine.

The problem is that MS no longer supports their products despite us spending large sums of corporate money on their 'Software Assurance'.

They have chosen to cheap out on 'support' to the point where it is impossible to alert them to a problem.

This leaves 'trial by public' as the only means to get their attention.

AnAdmin

10 Posts

Quote

Dec 8th 2015
5 years ago

Check that.... I just did another reboot to check on a different problem.... (I had lost my Lync2010 integration) and now I DO see Outlook says it is in safe mode.

I probably missed that small type in the Outlook header the first time...and safe mode is probably why my Lync integration isn't working.

K-Dee

68 Posts

Quote

Dec 8th 2015
5 years ago

And just like for you, removing KB3114409 and rebooting fixed both problems.... Thanks for your testing and your reporting here....

K-Dee

68 Posts

Quote

Dec 8th 2015
5 years ago

I am seeing 32-bit Outlook 2010 going into Safe Mode on 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7, as well as Windows Server 2008 R2 (Citrix XenApp 6.5). Uninstalling KB3114409 fixes it in all cases.

If KB3114409 is meant to fix CVE-2015-6124 (listed by MS as publicly exploited), then this is particularly unfortunate.

K-Dee
1 Posts

Quote

Dec 9th 2015
5 years ago

The format of your patch summary this month is broken. Looking at your page in full screen mode on a wide display I can only see the first column. I can't see your recommendations of the patch priority. (Or Microsofts which you usually have in a column.)

B.J.

2 Posts

Quote

Dec 9th 2015
5 years ago

Patch tuesday post is broken on Firefox, only shows first column, all the replys also flow over the right edge. Works on Chrome.

Paul

13 Posts

Quote

Dec 9th 2015
5 years ago

CVE-2015-6124 is exploited in the wild, so "known exploits" should be "yes" for MS15-131, right?
And perhaps re-evaluate the rating for that one.

beamer

12 Posts

Quote

Dec 9th 2015
5 years ago

Please, does anyone know if MS has fixed the reported patch problem regarding Outlook?

Brian Krebs has suggested that Outlook users may want to wait a few days before applying, but these updates appear critical.

Thank you.

Vic

1 Posts

Quote

Dec 9th 2015
5 years ago

I pulled the update list down this morning and do not see KB3114409 in the list. Looks like MS listened to everyone.

Vic
1 Posts

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Dec 9th 2015
5 years ago

Just wondering if MS15-127 / KB3100465 is so nasty, why isn't it marked as Patch Now. We know that an attack on DNS can be bundled into other exploits. Furthermore, since we don't know any details, it's entirely likely that a specially crafted site with perhaps an IFRAME, JS, CSS etc. that could trigger an internal DNS request that subsequently triggers a remote code execution.

Vic
1 Posts

Quote

Dec 9th 2015
5 years ago

I did consider "patch now", but decided against it as there is currently no exploit, and the exploitability of "2" should indicate that it may take a while for an exploit to appear.

Johannes

4191 Posts
ISC Handler

Quote

Dec 9th 2015
5 years ago

And yes, the Outlook patch was withdrawn by Microsoft.

Johannes

4191 Posts
ISC Handler

Quote

Dec 9th 2015
5 years ago

Thanks AnAdmin,

I have been looking for which KB to pull.
Some computers upgraded Tuesday night with issues to just view changing.
One computer so far started in safe mode.

SandMan

1 Posts

Quote

Dec 10th 2015
5 years ago

I'm not sure which patch is the culprit but we started having problems on a couple of websites after this rounds of updates. I did some troubleshooting and found a something odd. The VB Script (classic ASP) function InStrB() will always return a value of 1 if the value you are searching for is a single character. This is true even when the value does not exist in the source. Search for something longer and it works as expected. I coded around this by searching for different (longer) values and was able to fix our sites but it really makes me wonder what library was replaced that broke this function.

Kevin

2 Posts

Quote

Dec 11th 2015
5 years ago