Final Patch Tuesday for XP

Microsoft issued four security bulletins that now marks the end of support for XP.





Ross Barrett, senior manager of security engineering for Rapid7, said: “So this is it, the last hurrah for the once beloved XP, the last kick at the can for patching up the old boat. Sure, by today’s standards it’s a leaky, indefensible, liability, but… hey, do you even remember Windows 98? Or (*gasp*) ME?”

The patch consists of two Critical bulletins and two Important. Both could allow remote code execution if successfully exploited.

The most urgent update is MS14-017. It is an exploit that is already in the wild where just opening a RTF file in Word can compromise a vulnerable system and enable the attacker to install and execute other malicious code.

The other Critical issue affects Windows XP. It’s actually the cumulative patch for Internet Explorer (MS14-018) and impacts all versions of Internet Explorer except IE10.

A recent post on the Microsoft Security Blog highlights the primary security concerns and provides some mitigations and precautions for those who intend to continue using the operating system.