News
Another Patch-Blocking Problem for Microsoft
Microsoft issued an advisory alerting users about a glitch that prevents security updates from being distributed through specific Windows Server Update programs.
One week to the day Microsoft announced it was working on a patch to correct
problems concerning System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) -- problems that
have rendered some SCCM users
unable
to deploy June's security patches -- the company on Monday issued
another
security advisory, this time alerting users about a glitch that prevents
security updates from being distributed through specific Windows Server Update
programs.
The particular programs in question are implementations of Windows Server Update
Services (WSUS) 3.0 or WSUS 3.0 SP1 that hook up to client server systems with
Office 2003 installed in their processing environment.
"Microsoft is investigating this issue based on reports from customers
who are experiencing this issue," wrote Bill Sisk, security response communications
manager for Microsoft, in an e-mail to Redmondmag.com on Monday afternoon. "Upon
completion of the investigation, Microsoft will take the appropriate action
to resolve the problem within Microsoft Windows Server Update Services 3.0 or
Microsoft Windows Server Update Services 3.0 Service Pack 1."
Because this is the second such off-cycle advisory release in less than a week,
Redmond emphasized that this latest advisory is "a separate issue than
the issue affecting System Center Configuration Manager 2007 first described
in Microsoft
Security Advisory 954474," in which systems running SCCM 2007 were
blocked from deploying June's security updates.
The two advisories demonstrate the importance of change management for system
administrators. The irony is that both SCCM and WSUS are designed to be locally
managed using the Microsoft-updated Web site so that IT pros can easily harness
the distribution of patches, hotfixes, workarounds and non-security updates
in their enterprise environments.
As a workaround,
Redmond suggests resetting approval listings and settings or changing filters
in the updated node -- a linked list function in Windows -- to view and download
the new updates. These actions would require a restart.
About the Author
Jabulani Leffall is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in the Financial Times of London, Investor's Business Daily, The Economist and CFO Magazine, among others.