No Wait, These Ã…re the Last Two Windows Holes of the Year   - 1,782 Views, 1 Comment

Aunty had no idea that there was such a distinction to finding the last Windows security hole of the year! But that is the only thing which can explain this last minute rush to post newly discovered flaws in the eleventh hour of the holiday season.

Barely ten hours ago, Aunty told you about two flaws which were discovered by a Chinese security firm, and then posted about online along with the code for taking advantage of the flaws (for which Aunty thanked them profusely.)

Well, it could have been worse, because as it turns out they actually discovered a total of four new security holes, but only posted the exploitation instructions for two of them. I repeat: gee, guys, thanks.

These two additional security flaws both have to do with the Windows ANI kernal. ANI stands for Windows ANImated Cursor, and it manages certain types of image frames such as may be present in an email.

The first issue can cause Windows to crash if exploited successfully and the second can cause the system to freeze. Both are related to faulty checking of certain aspects of the ANI header file.

There has as of this writing been no update from Microsoft, but stay tuned, and Aunty will let you know as soon as one is announced.