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For the second time in three months, Google engineers have disclosed a bug in the Windows OS without Microsoft having released a fix before Google's announcement. The bug in question affects the Windows GDI (Graphics Device Interface) (gdi32.dll), which is a library that enables applications to use graphics and formatted text on both the video display and a local printer.
According to a bug report filed by Google's Project Zero team, the bug was initially part of a larger collection of issues discovered in March 2016, and fixed in June 2016, via Microsoft's security bulletin MS16-074. Mateusz Jurczyk, the Google engineer who found the first bugs, says the MS16-074 patches were insufficient, and some of the issues he reported continued to remain vulnerable. Following subsequent tests, the researcher resubmitted his bug report in November, which Microsoft failed to patch in the 90 days interval Google allows vendors to fix bugs before going public with its reports.
This is the second time Google has taken this step against Microsoft after in November 2016 it disclosed details about a zero-day exploited by a cyber-espionage group known as APT28 (Strontium) a few days before Microsoft's November Patch Tuesday. Back then, Google said it took this step to allow users to protect themselves until Microsoft published a patch. Microsoft's Terry Myerson, Executive Vice President, Windows and Devices Group, didn't see it the same way, describing Google's actions as "disappointing" because it put customers at greater risk of exploitation.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 20 2017, @07:06PM
I would rather they push it a bit than release a borked one.
Lets say for nice round numbers there are 100million people running windows. Lets say 1% of the computers eats themselves. That is 1 million broken computers. They are playing with a scale that where lots of people have a bad day.
We *want* MS to get this right. I have suffered through a couple of botched windows updates. It is not fun.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 20 2017, @07:19PM
Yes, but perhaps we'd also like it if they took security seriously in the first place. There's no good reason for them to delay the fixes that they believe are ready just so they can make enterprise customers happy by releasing them all at once.
Considering that most Windows users aren't in a position to test the patches, it's quite irresponsible of MS to delay patches arbitrarily based on things other than testing.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday February 20 2017, @08:16PM
There could be a gentlemen's agreement between Google and Microsoft, where the latter politely requests another month of non-disclosure to tweak a particularly unstable patch. Google could request proof that work is in progress, and hold off.
Now we have the bug in the wild and a few weeks' window to a fix...
(Score: 4, Interesting) by zocalo on Monday February 20 2017, @08:31PM
Besides, since MS has stopped giving advance notice of what it will be patching each month, we don't actually know for certain that they were even going to patch the bug this month anyway. It's *thought* that they were, but with MS that's hardly a guarantee, is it?
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 2, Insightful) by aristarchus on Monday February 20 2017, @07:34PM
We *want* MS to get this right. I have suffered through a couple of botched windows updates. It is not fun.
No, *we* don't. We want MS to get it wrong, and die, but then, they already have. You, on the other hand, seem to be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome! Seek help! "Hey, over here!! Found another victim of the Bowling Green Stockholm Swedish Massacre!!!"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 20 2017, @07:42PM
Oh yes I *love* fixing broken computers. I have nothing better to do with my day. If you will excuse me I am off to fix my linux box. It has decided to only show half of any list controls.
Windows *is* the desktop market. Deal.
Linux *is* the embedded/server market. Deal.
"Hey, over here!! Found another victim of the Bowling Green Stockholm Swedish Massacre!!!"
That has jack and shit to do with this? Perhaps you should stop watching news and actually do something. But if you want politics here you go. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1ulkykn7jc [youtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 20 2017, @09:51PM
That has jack and shit to do with this?
You must be new here. Most of what ari posts is only marginally intelligible or related to the topic at hand.
(Score: 2, Redundant) by aristarchus on Monday February 20 2017, @11:16PM
Most of what ari posts is only marginally intelligible or related to the topic at hand.
Yes, of course. Indulge me, however! Marginal intelligibility can be the fault of the poster, or of the reader. Same goes for relevance. Do try to keep up.
Our original AC here seemed to me to be a generic Micro$erf shill, possibly a bot. But I thought that would be a rude thing to say. So I opted to suggest that perhaps Microsofties these days are deluded and held captive by their failing proprietor, much as victims of the "Stockholm Syndrome" will come to sympathize with and even support their captors.
And of course, Stockholm is in Sweden, and as everyone knows, something terrible happened in Sweden, as reported in Florida, by someone who listens to Faux news. Do the connections make sense now, my dear AC? Do I need to explain it one more time?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 21 2017, @01:15AM
Do the connections make sense now, my dear AC? Do I need to explain it one more time?
Loud and clear. You are an ass with the mentality of a twelve year old who still thinks replacing $ for S is ROTFLMAOBBQ funny still. Got it.
Also today I learned from aristarchus that I am a microsoft shill. Where do I sign up for my shill money? Do they have some sort of payment system?
And of course, Stockholm is in Sweden, and as everyone knows, something terrible happened in Sweden,
Again you are trying to make it political. Perhaps you need to re-evaluate who you are and why you are posting on the internet. There are plenty of political boards out there to spew you stupid junk. I may suggest https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/ [reddit.com] They like making sweeping generalizations there. I have even heard you can get paid to do it too.
My point is I wanted them to go slow and actually fix it right before giving me broken software. Somehow you turned that into I am a shill. You are mental.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by aristarchus on Tuesday February 21 2017, @01:33AM
My point is I wanted them to go slow and actually fix it right before giving me broken software. Somehow you turned that into I am a shill. You are mental.
Now I see your point! But that does not affect my point, which is that you have no right to speak for "us". You are a Microsoft user? You want them to "fix" it? This would be funny, if it were not so sad. Not sure which is worse, the "wanting", or the believing a fix is possible. There is only one solution: You must cease using proprietary software. You are hurting the rest of the world. Whether you are being paid to do this or not is not relevant. And you do seem to be a bit touchy about the whole thing. Do you think that Mi¢rǿṩoʄt could come up with a patch for your attitude? You seem to be incorrectly identifying "mentals".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 21 2017, @03:51PM
so you're saying you enjoy botched windows upgrades. got it.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday February 21 2017, @06:18PM
so you're saying you enjoy botched windows upgrades. got it.
Actually, I am saying I have never seen one! The last Windoxa system I ran was Win95. Oh, wait, that means I must have seen some, but there was no internet with Win95, only some patched together TCP/IP stack called Trumpet using winsock, or something, so the botch usually involved floppy disks. But I haven't "enjoyed" Micro$erf "upgrays" since circa 1996. You can do the same thing! Come to the Linux side! Now with systemd, to make windows refugees feel more at home. Act now, before there is another executive order banning refugees.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 20 2017, @11:29PM
Windows *is* the desktop market. Deal.
But it doesn't have to be that way for you as an individual if you refuse to use proprietary software, as you should.
(Score: 1) by WillR on Tuesday February 21 2017, @02:40PM
We can't all be ACs living in mom and dad's basement into our 40s.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday February 21 2017, @01:30PM
It's not stockholm syndrome, it's survival. As an individual, I can vote with my feet/wallet. But that only works at the individual level. At work I have to get shit done. That requires productivity software that is written by companies who only care about market share and that happens to be Windows. I don't like it. But we have to live with it. Wishing Windows dies when no decent alternative exists besides an over priced walled garden or a scatterbrained mess is a naive at best.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 22 2017, @12:09AM
You have my condolences, you poor bastard! But then, just who are you calling a scatterbrained mess?
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday February 21 2017, @01:24AM
Without this kind of pressure, they never get around to releasing any patches. Historically proven.
🌻🌻 [google.com]