Detection and deployment guidance for the December 9, 2008 security release

As part of an ongoing commitment to provide detection tools and deployment recommendations for security updates, Microsoft is delivering this detection and deployment guidance for all updates that are released during a Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) release cycle.

This guidance contains recommendations that are based on the kinds of scenarios that may exist in various Microsoft operating system environments. This guidance includes how to use tools such as the following tools:

• Windows Update
• Microsoft Update
• Office Update
• The Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA)
• Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)
• Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager
• Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS)
• The Extended Security Update Inventory Tool

This article describes the detection and deployment guidance for the security release that is dated December 9, 2008.

Detection and deployment

Environments that detect and deploy security updates by using Windows Update, Microsoft Update, Office Update, and Mactopia

Security updates that were released on December 9, 2008 are available through the following Web sites. Any exceptions are described in each Web site section. The products that are supported by each Web site are also listed.

Note Not every update is available on every Web site that is listed here.

Windows Update

The products that are supported by this Web site are as follows:

• Microsoft Windows 2000
• Windows XP
• Windows Server 2003
• Windows Vista
• Windows Server 2008

Microsoft Update

You can detect security updates that were released on December 9, 2008 if you use Microsoft Update.

General exceptions
Microsoft Update does not support the following:

• Visual Basic 6.0, Visual Studio 2002 or Visual Studio 2003
• Digital Image Suite 2006
• SQL 7.0 or Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE) 1.0
• Report Viewer 2005 or Report Viewer 2008
• Visual FoxPro 8.0 Service Pack 1 (SP1), Visual FoxPro 9.0 SP1, or Visual FoxPro 9.0 SP2 when it is installed on Windows 2000 SP4
• Platform SDK: GDI+
• Any Office 2000 components
• Any Macintosh products
• MSN Messenger or Windows Live Messenger

Specific exceptions
There are no specific exceptions this month.

Office Update

The products that are supported by this Web site are as follows:

• Office 2000
• Office 2002
• Office 2003
• The 2007 Office system

General exceptions

• Office Update does not support 2007 Office components when they are installed on computers that are running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008. You must use Microsoft Update instead.
• Office Update does not support any Macintosh products.

Mactopia

The products that are supported by this Web site are as follows:

• Microsoft Office 2001 for Mac
• Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac
• Microsoft Office X for Mac
• Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac

Environments that detect security updates by using Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) version 2.1

You can detect security updates that were released on December 9, 2008 if you use MBSA version 2.1.

General exceptions
MBSA version 2.1 does not support the following:

• Visual Basic 6.0, Visual Studio 2002 or Visual Studio 2003
• Digital Image Suite 2006
• SQL 7.0 or Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE) 1.0
• Report Viewer 2005 or Report Viewer 2008
• Visual FoxPro 8.0 SP1, Visual FoxPro 9.0 SP1, or Visual FoxPro 9.0 SP2 when it is installed on Windows 2000 SP4
• Platform SDK: GDI+
• Any Office 2000 components
• Any Macintosh products
• Microsoft Works 8 when you use an offline scan
  Note For more information, see the "Offline and Online scans" section later in this section.
• MSN Messenger or Windows Live Messenger

Specific exceptions
There are no specific exceptions this month.

Offline and Online scans

• Online scan
  This is when the system that is scanned by MBSA 2.1 has connectivity to Microsoft Update. This is shown in the completed scan report.
• Offline scan
  This is when the system that is scanned by MBSA 2.1 is managed by WSUS or is in an offline secure environment that forces the system to use the WSUSSCN2.CAB offline catalog.

Environments that detect and deploy security updates by using Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)

You can detect and deploy security updates that were released on December 9, 2008 if you use any of the following items:

• WSUS 2.0 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
• WSUS 3.0
• WSUS 3.0 SP1

General exceptions WSUS does not support the following:

• Visual Basic 6.0, Visual Studio 2002 or Visual Studio 2003
• Digital Image Suite 2006
• SQL 7.0 or Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE) 1.0
• Report Viewer 2005 or Report Viewer 2008
• Visual FoxPro 8.0 SP1, Visual FoxPro 9.0 SP1, or Visual FoxPro 9.0 SP2 when it is installed on Windows 2000 SP4
• Platform SDK: GDI+
• Any Office 2000 components
• Any Macintosh products
• MSN Messenger or Windows Live Messenger

Specific exceptions
There are no specific exceptions this month.

Environments that detect and deploy security updates by using SMS 2.0, SMS 2003, or Configuration Manager 2007

You can detect and deploy all security updates that were released on December 9, 2008 if you use any of the following items:

• Systems Management Server (SMS) 2.0 together with the SUS Feature Pack
• Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 together with the SUS Feature Pack
• Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 together with Inventory Tool for Microsoft Updates (ITMU)
• System Center Configuration Manager (Configuration Manager 2007) 2007

General exceptions

• Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes support for, and is required for, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 manageability.
• SMS 2003 together with ITMU and Configuration Manager 2007 do not support the following products:
  • Visual Basic 6.0, Visual Studio 2002 or Visual Studio 2003
  • Digital Image Suite 2006
  • SQL 7.0 or Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE) 1.0
  • Report Viewer 2005 or Report Viewer 2008
  • Visual FoxPro 8.0 SP1, Visual FoxPro 9.0 SP1, or Visual FoxPro 9.0 SP2 when it is installed on Windows 2000 SP4
  • Platform SDK: GDI+
  • Any Office 2000 components
  • Any Macintosh products
  • MSN Messenger or Windows Live Messenger
• SMS together with the SUS Feature Pack do not support the following products:
  • Microsoft Expression Web and Microsoft Expression Web 2
  • Host Integration Server 2000, Host Integration Server 2004, and Host Integration Server 2006
  • Forefront Client Security 1.0 when it is installed on Windows 2000 SP4
  • Report Viewer 2005 or Report Viewer 2008
  • Visual FoxPro 9.0 SP1 and Visual FoxPro 9.0 SP2 when it is installed on Windows 2000 SP4
  • The .NET Framework 2.0 and the .NET Framework 2.0 SP1 when it is installed on Windows 2000 SP4
  • Windows Media Player 11
  • Digital Image Suite 2006
  • Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE) 1.0
  • SQL Server 2005
  • SQL Server 2008
  • Visual Studio 2008
  • Exchange 2007
  • Microsoft Works 8
  • The 2007 Office system
  • Windows Internet Explorer 7
  • Windows Vista
  • Windows Server 2008
  • Search Server 2008
  • Any x64-based versions of Windows or of SQL Server
  • Any Itanium-based versions of Windows or of SQL Server
• The SMS SUS Feature Pack, SMS ITMU, and Configuration Manager 2007 do not support any Macintosh products.

Specific exceptions
There are no specific exceptions this month.

Note The SMS SUS Feature Pack requires the Extended Security Update Inventory Tool to detect all the security updates.

To obtain the Extended Security Update Inventory Tool, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Summary of detection and deployment guidance

The following table summarizes the detection and deployment guidance for each new security update.

Note To simplify this table, items that were listed under the "general exceptions" heading for each detection and deployment technology are not included.

For example, the SMS SUS Feature Pack column in this table may include a "Yes." However, the security bulletin lists a Windows Vista component as affected. Previously, we would have stated in the table that the SMS SUS Feature Pack partly supported the deployment of the security update because the SMS SUS Feature Pack does not support Windows Vista components. Currently, we no longer account for that specific exception in the table because the exception is always listed as a general exception.

Rereleased security updates

There are no rereleases this month.

Frequently asked questions

What is Microsoft doing to provide guidance about how to deploy these updates?

We encourage system administrators to join the monthly technical webcast to learn more about security updates. The webcast for this security update airs on December 10 at 11:00 A.M. (Pacific Time). To register, visit the following Microsoft Web site: What other information should I know about MBSA?

For more information about the programs that MBSA currently supports, visit the following Microsoft TechNet Web page: Can I use SMS or System Center Configuration Manager to determine whether the updates are required?

Yes. SMS helps detect and deploy these security updates. SMS 2.0 together with the SUS Feature Pack and SMS 2003 together with SUSFP use MBSA version 1.2.1 technology for detection. Therefore, SMS 2.0 together with the SUS Feature Pack and SMS 2003 together with the SUS Feature Pack have limitations that resemble the limitations of MBSA version 1.2.1.

For more information about SMS, visit the following Microsoft Web site: The SUS Feature Pack together with the Extended Security Update Inventory Tool are required to detect all the security updates on Microsoft Windows and on other affected Microsoft products.

For more information about the limitations of the SUS Feature Pack, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: SMS 2.0 together with the SUS Feature Pack and SMS 2003 together with the SUS Feature Pack also use the Microsoft Office Inventory Tool to detect the required security updates for Microsoft Office programs such as Microsoft Word.

SMS 2003 customers can also use ITMU to detect and deploy security updates. ITMU uses technology from Microsoft Updates. For more information about ITMU, visit the following Microsoft Web site: System Center Configuration Manager 2007 uses WSUS 3.0 for detection and deployment of these security updates. Therefore, anything that is supported by WSUS 3.0 is also supported by System Center Configuration Manager 2007.

Note This is a "FAST PUBLISH" article created directly from within the Microsoft support organization. The information contained herein is provided as-is in response to emerging issues. As a result of the speed in making it available, the materials may include typographical errors and may be revised at any time without notice. See Terms of Use for other considerations.