Patch/Configuration Management, Vulnerability Management

Microsoft to update April patch

Microsoft will re-release one April Patch next Tuesday due to interference between the fix and third-party software.

The Redmond, Wash., software giant said earlier this week that patch MS06-015, which was released on April's Patch Tuesday, was interfering with a number of Hewlett-Packard (HP) products.

Mike Reavy, of Microsoft's Security Response Center, said this week that the scope of the flaw was limited and was mostly affecting consumer-level products.

In a bulletin released last week, Microsoft said the issue may cause an inability to access "My Documents" or "My Pictures" folders, unresponsive Microsoft Office applications, ineffective address bars or other problems.

The issues are caused by Microsoft installing the verclisd.exe file, which stops responding after being identified by HP's Share-to-Web software, according to Microsoft's support website.

Microsoft has had problems with three of the patches released last week. The company is investigating unconfirmed issues with the Outlook Express patch, while customers have reported problems with the cumulative patch for Internet Explorer.

Stephen Toulouse, head of the Microsoft Security Response Center, said 95 percent of customer issues with the resolved by following the company's work-around directions for HP software.

The update white lists the HP and NVIDIA software that were conflicting with the patch, said Toulouse.

"What the new update essentially does is simply add the affected third-party software to an 'exception list' so that the problem does not occur," he said. "The revised update automates the manual registry key fix."

Toulouse said PC users not experiencing any problems shouldn't download the update.

"When the update is re-released, it's going to be very much targeted to people who are having the problem, or people who have not installed MS06-015 yet," he said. "That means if you have already installed MS06-015 and are not having the problem, there's no action here for you."

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