Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for March 2008

Published: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 | Updated: Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Version: 2.0

This bulletin summary lists security bulletins released for March 2008.

With the release of the bulletins for March 2008, this bulletin summary replaces the bulletin advance notification originally issued March 6, 2008. For more information about the bulletin advance notification service, see Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification.

For information about how to receive automatic notifications whenever Microsoft security bulletins are issued, visit Microsoft Technical Security Notifications.

Microsoft is hosting a webcast to address customer questions on these bulletins on March 12, 2008, at 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada). Register now for the March Security Bulletin Webcast. After this date, this webcast is available on-demand. For more information, see Microsoft Security Bulletin Summaries and Webcasts.

Microsoft also provides information to help customers prioritize monthly security updates with any non-security, high-priority updates that are being released on the same day as the monthly security updates. Please see the section, Other Information.

Bulletin Information

Executive Summaries

The security bulletins for this month are as follows, in order of severity:

Critical (4)

Bulletin Identifier	Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-014
Bulletin Title	Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Excel Could Allow Remote Code Execution (949029)
Executive Summary	This security update resolves several privately reported and publicly reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Excel that could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted Excel file. An attacker who successfully exploited these vulnerabilities could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.
Maximum Severity Rating	Critical
Impact of Vulnerability	Remote Code Execution
Detection	Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer can detect whether your computer system requires this update. The update will not require a restart.
Affected Software	Microsoft Office. For more information, see the Affected Software and Download Locations section.

Bulletin Identifier	Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-015
Bulletin Title	Vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook Could Allow Remote Code Execution (949031)
Executive Summary	This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Office Outlook. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if Outlook is passed a specially crafted mailto URI. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights. This vulnerability is not exploitable by simply viewing an e-mail through the Outlook preview pane.
Maximum Severity Rating	Critical
Impact of Vulnerability	Remote Code Execution
Detection	Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer can detect whether your computer system requires this update. The update will not require a restart.
Affected Software	Microsoft Office. For more information, see the Affected Software and Download Locations section.

Bulletin Identifier	Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-016
Bulletin Title	Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Could Allow Remote Code Execution (949030)
Executive Summary	This security update resolves two privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office that could allow remote code execution if a user opens a malformed Office file. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.
Maximum Severity Rating	Critical
Impact of Vulnerability	Remote Code Execution
Detection	Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer can detect whether your computer system requires this update. The update will not require a restart.
Affected Software	Microsoft Office. For more information, see the Affected Software and Download Locations section.

Bulletin Identifier	Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-017
Bulletin Title	Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Web Components Could Allow Remote Code Execution (933103)
Executive Summary	This critical update resolves two privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Web Components. These vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user viewed a specially crafted Web page. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.
Maximum Severity Rating	Critical
Impact of Vulnerability	Remote Code Execution
Detection	Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer can detect whether your computer system requires this update. The update may require a restart.
Affected Software	Microsoft Office Web Components. For more information, see the Affected Software and Download Locations section.

Affected Software and Download Locations

How do I use this table?

Use this table to learn about the security updates that you may need to install. You should review each software program or component listed to see whether any security updates are required. If a software program or component is listed, then the impact of the vulnerability is listed and also hyperlinked to the available software update.

Note You may have to install several security updates for a single vulnerability. Review the whole column for each bulletin identifier that is listed to verify the updates that you have to install, based on the programs or components that you have installed on your system.

Affected Software and Download Locations

	Details	Details	Details	Details
Bulletin Identifier	MS08-014	MS08-015	MS08-016	MS08-017
Maximum Severity Rating	Critical	Critical	Critical	Critical
Office Suites and Software
Microsoft Office 2000 Service Pack 3			Critical	[1]
Microsoft Office XP Service Pack 3			Important	[1]
Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 2			Important
Microsoft Office Excel 2000 Service Pack 3	Critical
Microsoft Office Excel 2002 Service Pack 3	Important
Microsoft Office Excel 2003 Service Pack 2	Important
Microsoft Office Excel Viewer 2003	Important		Important
Microsoft Office Excel Viewer 2003 Service Pack 3			Important
Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003			Important
Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003 Service Pack 3			Important
Microsoft Office Excel 2007	Important
Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats	Important
Microsoft Office Outlook 2000 Service Pack 3		Critical
Microsoft Office Outlook 2002 Service Pack 3		Critical
Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Service Pack 2		Critical
Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Service Pack 3		Critical
Microsoft Office Outlook 2007		Critical
Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac	Important		Important
Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac	Important
Other Software
Microsoft Office Web Components 2000 (KB931660)				Critical
Microsoft Office Web Components 2000 (KB932031)				Critical
Microsoft Office Web Components 2000 (KB933367)				Critical
Microsoft Office Web Components 2000 (KB933369)				Critical
Microsoft Office Web Components 2000 (KB939714)				Critical [2]
Microsoft Office Web Components 2000 (KB939714)				Critical [3]
Microsoft Office Web Components 2000 (KB941305)				Critical
Microsoft Office Web Components 2000 (KB948257)				Critical
Visual Studio .NET 2002 Service Pack 1 (KB933367)				[1]
Visual Studio .NET 2003 Service Pack 1 (KB933369)				[1]
Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 (KB939714)				[1]
Microsoft BizTalk Server 2002 (KB939714)				[1]
Microsoft Commerce Server 2000 (KB941305)				[1]
Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2000 Service Pack 2 (KB948257)				[1]

Notes

[1] A security update is available for this software. See the affected software or component in the table and the appropriate security bulletin for details.

[2] This security update is associated with Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000. See the appropriate security bulletin for details.

[3] This security update is associated with Microsoft BizTalk Server 2002. See the appropriate security bulletin for details.

Detection and Deployment Tools and Guidance

Security Central

Manage the software and security updates you need to deploy to the servers, desktop, and mobile computers in your organization. For more information see the TechNet Update Management Center. The TechNet Security Center provides additional information about security in Microsoft products. Consumers can visit Security At Home, where this information is also available by clicking “Latest Security Updates”.

Security updates are available from Microsoft Update, Windows Update, and Office Update. Security updates are also available at the Microsoft Download Center. You can find them most easily by doing a keyword search for "security update".

Finally, security updates can be downloaded from the Microsoft Update Catalog. The Microsoft Update Catalog provides a searchable catalog of content made available through Windows Update and Microsoft Update, including security updates, drivers and service packs. By searching using the security bulletin number (such as, “MS07-036”), you can add all of the applicable updates to your basket (including different languages for an update), and download to the folder of your choosing. For more information about the Microsoft Update Catalog, see the Microsoft Update Catalog FAQ.

Detection and Deployment Guidance

Microsoft has provided detection and deployment guidance for this month’s security updates. This guidance will also help IT professionals understand how they can use various tools to help deploy the security update, such as Windows Update, Microsoft Update, Office Update, the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA), the Office Detection Tool, Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS), and the Extended Security Update Inventory Tool (ESUIT). For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 910723.

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer

The Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) allows administrators to scan local and remote systems for missing security updates as well as common security misconfigurations. For more information about MBSA, visit Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer.

Windows Server Update Services

By using Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), administrators can quickly and reliably deploy the latest critical updates and security updates for Windows 2000 operating systems and later, Office XP and later, Exchange Server 2003, and SQL Server 2000 to Windows 2000 and later operating systems.

For more information about how to deploy this security update using Windows Server Update Services, visit Windows Server Update Services.

Systems Management Server

Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) delivers a highly-configurable enterprise solution for managing updates. By using SMS, administrators can identify Windows-based systems that require security updates and to perform controlled deployment of these updates throughout the enterprise with minimal disruption to end users. The next release of SMS, System Center Configuration Manager 2007, is now available; see also System Center Configuration Manager 2007. For more information about how administrators can use SMS 2003 to deploy security updates, see SMS 2003 Security Patch Management. SMS 2.0 users can also use the Software Updates Services Feature Pack to help deploy security updates. For information about SMS, visit Microsoft Systems Management Server.

Note SMS uses the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer and the Microsoft Office Detection Tool to provide broad support for security bulletin update detection and deployment. Some software updates may not be detected by these tools. Administrators can use the inventory capabilities of the SMS in these cases to target updates to specific systems. For more information about this procedure, see Deploying Software Updates Using the SMS Software Distribution Feature. Some security updates require administrative rights following a restart of the system. Administrators can use the Elevated Rights Deployment Tool (available in the SMS 2003 Administration Feature Pack and in the SMS 2.0 Administration Feature Pack) to install these updates.

Other Information

Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool

Microsoft has released an updated version of the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool on Windows Update, Microsoft Update, Windows Server Update Services, and the Download Center.

Non-Security, High-Priority Updates on MU, WU, and WSUS

For this month:

Microsoft has released two non-security, high-priority updates on Microsoft Update (MU) and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).
Microsoft has released three non-security, high-priority updates for Windows on Windows Update (WU) and WSUS.

Note that this information pertains only to non-security, high-priority updates on Microsoft Update, Windows Update, and Windows Server Update Services released on the same day as the security bulletin summary. Information is not provided about non-security updates released on other days.

Security Strategies and Community

Update Management Strategies

Security Guidance for Update Management provides additional information about Microsoft’s best-practice recommendations for applying security updates.

Obtaining Other Security Updates

Updates for other security issues are available from the following locations:

Security updates are available from Microsoft Download Center. You can find them most easily by doing a keyword search for "security update".
Updates for consumer platforms are available from Microsoft Update.
You can obtain the security updates offered this month on Windows Update, from Download Center on Security and Critical Releases ISO CD Image files. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 913086.

IT Pro Security Community

Learn to improve security and optimize your IT infrastructure, and participate with other IT Pros on security topics in IT Pro Security Community.

Acknowledgments

Microsoft thanks the following for working with us to help protect customers:

Mike Scott of SAIC for reporting an issue described in MS08-014
Matt Richard of VeriSign for reporting an issue described in MS08-014
Greg MacManus of iDefense Labs for reporting an issue described in MS08-014
Yoshiya Sasaki of JFE Systems for reporting an issue described in MS08-014
Bing Liu of Fortinet for reporting an issue described in MS08-014
iDefense Labs for reporting an issue described in MS08-014
Cody Pierce of TippingPoint DVLabs for reporting an issue described in MS08-014
Moti Joseph and Dan Hubbard of Websense Security Labs for reporting an issue described in MS08-014
Greg MacManus of iDefense Labs for reporting an issue described in MS08-015
Arnaud Dovi, working with Zero Day Initiative (ZDI), for reporting an issue described in MS08-016
An anonymous finder for reporting an issue described in MS08-016
Chris Ries of VigilantMinds Inc. for reporting an issue described in MS08-017
Xiao Hui of NCNIPC for reporting an issue described in MS08-017
Golan Yosef of Finjan for reporting an issue described in MS08-017
Yuval Ben-Itzhak of Finjan for reporting an issue described in MS08-017

Support

The affected software listed have been tested to determine which versions are affected. Other versions are past their support life cycle. To determine the support life cycle for your software version, visit Microsoft Support Lifecycle.
Customers in the U.S. and Canada can receive technical support from Microsoft Product Support Services at 1-866-PCSAFETY. There is no charge for support calls that are associated with security updates.
International customers can receive support from their local Microsoft subsidiaries. There is no charge for support that is associated with security updates. For more information about how to contact Microsoft for support issues, visit International Help and Support.

Disclaimer

The information provided in the Microsoft Knowledge Base is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. Microsoft disclaims all warranties, either express or implied, including the warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall Microsoft Corporation or its suppliers be liable for any damages whatsoever including direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, loss of business profits or special damages, even if Microsoft Corporation or its suppliers have been advised of the possibility of such damages. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages so the foregoing limitation may not apply.

Revisions

V1.0 (March 11, 2008): Bulletin summary published.
V1.1 (March 12, 2008): Bulletin summary updated to reflect new download link for Microsoft Office Web Components 2000 for BizTalk Server 2000 and 2002.
V1.2 (March 26, 2008): Bulletin summary updated to add a finder for MS08-017.
V2.0 (April 16, 2008): Bulletin summary updated to add Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003 and Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003 Service Pack 3 to the Affected Software for MS08-016.