Microsoft delivers emergency ASP.net patch

As planned, Microsoft on Tuesday released an out-of-band patch to repair a vulnerability in the ASP.net web application framework. Bulletin MS10-070, rated "important" but carrying Microsoft's highest exploitability risk, plugs a hole that is present in all supported versions of Windows. The bug involves a weakness in the way the ASP.net technology implements encryption that could allow an attacker to tamper with and potentially steal sensitive data. Administrators should only rush to patch those machines running a web server with ASP.net installed, said Wolfgang Kandek, CTO of vulnerability management firm Qualys. — DK