No Fix from Microsoft for AV Scan Engine Updating Problem

Microsoft acknowledged updating issues related to a limited amount of Antigen and Forefront Server Security solutions deployed by customers. According to the Redmond giant, the Microsoft AV engine failed to bring up to date some installations of its enterprise security products. The company indicated that all products could be affected, but that, despite this, not all users would be experiencing the problem.

 

At the end of the past week, Holly Kipp, CSS Security Support engineer (Antigen/Forefront Server Security), revealed that Microsoft had identified the source of the failed updates.

 

"The issue arose because the aveMicrosoft.dll in one of the Microsoft AV engine updates was marked as hidden, causing all subsequent updates to fail when attempting to delete this file. When that occurs, the engine is rolled back. This means that installations experiencing this problem are running with an outdated version of the Microsoft AV engine," Kipp stated.

 

At the same time, Kipp added that Microsoft does not have in place, nor does it plan to make available and serve its customers with an automatic solution to resolve the issue. The company will not release an update for the Microsoft AV engine, nor will it deliver a hotfix. As the hidden files scenarios have been corrected since the first problems were identified, failed installations can only be resolved manually.

 

"To correct this problem, browse to the Microsoft AV engine folder (Install Path Exchange Server Engines x86 Microsoft) and un-hide the "binaveMicrosoft.dll" file. You must then either manually update the Microsoft AV engine by clicking the Update Now button in Scanner Updates or allow the engine to be updated as scheduled. You do not need to shut down or recycle any services, but you will need to configure Windows Explorer to view Hidden Files," Kipp added.