Warning about Windows WM_TIMER patch

In December 2002, Microsoft released an advisory MS02-071 - Flaw in Windows WM_TIMER Message Handling Could Enable Privilege Elevation (328310), and there are convincing reports that this patch is broken for Windows NT 4.0. I've had a customer getting BSOD routinely since this patch went in, and we never get them otherwise.

This Advisory came across Bugtraq recently, and it shows that we're not the only ones. Microsoft hasn't said anything about this yet, but it's good enough for me to back the patch out all over. This patch can be uninstalled from Control Panel »» Add/Remove Programs »» "Windows 4.0 Hotfix (see Q328310)"

I've not had any problems with this on Win2000 or XP, but it's clearly not happy with NT 4. Consider not installing this patch if Windows Update presents it to you.

Posted by Steve at January 15, 2003 10:14 AM | TrackBack