boot13The latest version of WordPress includes a style and responsiveness overhaul of the dashboard, sharp new vector-based icons, better support for mobile platforms, improved responsiveness features, better theme and widget management, better RTL (Right To Left) suport, some bug fixes, and a new theme, TwentyFourteen. An entry in the WordPress Codex lists all the changes in the new version.
Category Archives: Patches and updates
Firefox 26 released with no announcement
Tuesday saw another stealth release of Firefox: version 26. As usual, the new version was not announced by Mozilla; I learned about it from a post on the CERT Current Activity blog. The official release notes for version 26 describe some of the changes in this version: nothing worthy of note. Version 26 does include fixes for some security issues, so you should upgrade as soon as possible.
Update 2013Dec16: One notable change in Firefox 26 is that Java is now blocked on all sites by default. This behaviour can be changed, but we recommend using the default setting.
Flash Player 11.9.900.170 fixes two vulnerabilities
Adobe has released a new version of its ubiquitous Flash Player. Version 11.9.900.170 includes fixes for two security vulnerabilities, as well as some other bug fixes.
As usual, Flash in Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 8.x will be updated separately, by way of Microsoft Update. Google Chrome will also get the new version of Flash via its own internal update mechanism.
Patch Tuesday for December 2013
Yesterday being the second Tuesday in December, another batch of updates was made available by Microsoft. This month there are eleven updates, affecting Windows, Internet Explorer, GDI+ and various server software. Five of the updates are flagged as Critical.
The official Security Bulletin Summary has all the technical details. As usual, there’s a somewhat less technical explanation of this month’s updates over at the MSRC blog. The MSRC post is worth reading, if only for the explanation of the difference between a security advisory and a security bulletin. The short version is that a bulletin is always associated with an update, whereas an advisory usually isn’t.
Advance Notification for December 2013 updates
On December 10, Microsoft will publish eleven bulletins, with associated updates affecting Internet Explorer, Windows, Microsoft Exchange and GDI+.
The official advance notification has the technical details, while a post on the MSRC blog describes the updates in less technical language.
Chrome 31.0.1650.63 released
A new version of Google Chrome was released on December 4. Version 31.0.1650.63 includes fifteen security fixes.
Opera 18 released
Version 18.0.1284.49 of the Webkit-based (and sadly deficient) Opera web browser improves stability and adds a few new features, including camera/microphone support, the ability to move tabs between windows, custom themes, and custom search engines.
The official announcement and release notes pages have additional details.
Firefox 25.0.1 released
Another stealth release of Firefox happened on November 15. Version 25.0.1 apparently fixes some security vulnerabilities and other bugs. With the total lack of any kind of announcement for this release, and the way the release notes include changes in previous releases, it’s difficult to be certain what’s new in this version. For instance, the version 25.0.1 release notes point to the ‘Known vulnerabilities‘ page, but there’s nothing listed there that’s specific to version 25.0.1. The release notes for 25.0.1 also point to Bugzilla (‘complete list of changes‘), but the list of fixed bugs shows everything for version 25, and nothing specific to version 25.0.1. What a mess.
Update 2013Nov23: EWeek has more information about the security vulnerabilities fixed in Firefox 25.0.1 (even if Mozilla doesn’t).
Chrome 31.0.1650.57 released
Hot on the heels of version 31.0.1650.48, the latest version of Google’s web browser fixes multiple memory corruption issues as demonstrated by an exploit privately reported to Google.
Chrome 31.0.1650.48 released
The latest version of Google’s web browser includes an update to the embedded Flash player (to version 11.9.900.152), and 25 security fixes. The official announcement has the technical details.