Emergency security workaround from Microsoft

Kudos to Redmond for a quick turnaround mitigating a Day Zero bug being exploited to install malware:

Microsoft has issued a temporary fix for a critical Windows vulnerability that has already been exploited to install highly sophisticated malware that targeted manufacturers of industrial systems.

In an advisory issued late Thursday, Microsoft said the previously unknown flaw in the Win32k TrueType font-parsing engine affected every supported version of Windows, including Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008, which are the most secure to date. The critical vulnerability was recently exploited to spread Duqu, malware that some researchers say was derived from last year's Stuxnet worm that sabotaged Iran's uranium enrichment program.

All Windows versions are vulnerable, and this new attack is no joke.  Here's what you do:

On Windows XP and Windows Server 2003:

• For 32-bit systems, enter the following command at an administrative command prompt:Echo y| cacls "%windir%\system32\t2embed.dll" /E /P everyone:N
• For 64-bit systems, enter the following command from an administrative command prompt:Echo y| cacls "%windir%\system32\t2embed.dll" /E /P everyone:N
Echo y| cacls "%windir%\syswow64\t2embed.dll" /E /P everyone:N

On Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2:

• For 32-bit systems, enter the following command at an administrative command prompt:Takeown.exe /f "%windir%\system32\t2embed.dll"
Icacls.exe "%windir%\system32\t2embed.dll" /deny everyone:(F)

• For 64-bit systems, enter the following command at an administrative command prompt:Takeown.exe /f "%windir%\system32\t2embed.dll"
Icacls.exe "%windir%\system32\t2embed.dll" /deny everyone:(F)
Takeown.exe /f "%windir%\syswow64\t2embed.dll"
Icacls.exe "%windir%\syswow64\t2embed.dll" /deny everyone:(F)

You should be able to copy and paste the command into a command shell window.

A patch is coming, but this will keep you protected until then.