14 DAY TRIAL // On July 10, 2008, Microsoft made available for download the ISO image containing the July 2008 Security Releases. As it is tradition over at the Redmond giant, security bulletins for the Windows client and server operating systems are not released exclusively through Windows Update and Automatic Updates, but are also served through the Download Center. At the same time, users can manually download and deploy the standalone updates, or, when it comes down to the Windows platforms, grab the ISO image with the monthly security releases as a single package.
Case in point: the July 2008 Security Releases ISO Image which contains the patches dropped on July 8, 2008 for Windows, including Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows XP Service Pack 3. The ISO image weighs in at 2236.2 MB and provides multiple individual language versions of the July security update for Windows. This month, Microsoft patched a total of nine security vulnerability across its Windows and server products, all with a severity rating of Important, seven of them impacting various client and server platforms.
"All nine of the issues are rated 'important' this month. Although none of the issues jump out and say, 'This is a severe or critical vulnerability,' a couple of the issues have the potential to become widespread. Two of the four SQL Server issues, while local in nature, could be exploited remotely if an attacker can exploit a latent SQL-injection issue in an application that uses the vulnerable server as a backend. Also, the DNS Server and Client issues could help attackers spoof legitimate sites, greatly enhancing their ability to phish sensitive information from unsuspecting victims," revealed Robert Keith, Symantec security researcher.
The July 2008 Security Releases ISO Image contains security updates for two vulnerabilities affecting the Windows Domain Name System (exploitation risk: spoofing); one in Windows Explorer (exploitation risk: remote code execution) and four in SQL Server (exploitation risk: elevation of privileges) which also impact Windows components.
The July 2008 Security Releases ISO Image is available for download here.