99 Another Windows Flaw
Monday 26th November, 2007
Yes, I know that Windows flaws are ten a penny. It's just that this one is quite amusing.
The bug ... resides in a feature known as Web Proxy Autodiscovery (WPAD), which helps IT administrators automate the configuration of proxy settings in Internet Explorer and other web browsers.
So far so good. But wait, Microsoft fixed this problem years ago!
... the flaw affects every version of Windows including Vista and is actually the continuation of an old vulnerability that Microsoft supposedly fixed years ago.
Oops.
Microsoft appears to have released a patch for the vulnerability in 1999. But the patch only protected domain names ending in .com, so WPAD servers using all other addresses have remained vulnerable.
Hilarious! These idiots would have you believe that the security of Microsoft products rivals that of Linux? Unbelievable.