Problems Crop Up In Microsoft Patch

Windows users have reported problems accessing the Internet via a dial-up connection after installing one of the 12 security updates Microsoft released Tuesday, security organizations reported Friday.

Applying the MS06-025 patch -- which fixes a pair of "critical" vulnerabilities in Windows' Routing and Remote Access Service -- breaks dial-up capability, said the SANS Institute's Internet Storm Center (ISC) in an alert posted to its Web site Thursday. Symantec followed with an advisory of its own Friday.

According to the ISC warning, the patch prevents users from using a dial-up connection, breaks applications that have dial-up functionality, and bars scripts from running.

Symantec said that Microsoft has confirmed the problem and has opened a case file for the bug. If the patch isn't deployed -- to keep dial-up alive, for example -- Symantec told users to restrict access to the ports associated with the vulnerable services, including TCP ports 135, 139, 445, and 593; and UDP ports 135, 137, 138, and 445. All unsolicited inbound traffic coming in on ports greater than UDP/TCP port 1024 should also be closely monitored, Symantec added.

Microsoft's security updates have had a rocky history of late. In April, the Redmond, Wash. developer was forced to re-issue an update to eliminate a slew of bad behaviors that the original caused on systems running older Hewlett-Packard software or NVIDIA graphics drivers.