Description: This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Windows Media Player that could allow remote code execution when a specially crafted audio file is streamed from a Windows Media server. If a user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights. The security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting the manner in which Windows Media Player 11 handles audio files streamed from a server-side playlist (SSPL). Keep reading →

Next Tuesday expect one critical update for the Media Player in Vista. Keep reading →

Microsoft posted the Security Bulletin Advance Notification for August 2008 today. In all, seven security updates are being released that affect the Windows Operating System, with five of them affecting Windows Vista. Three are ‘Important’, the other two ‘Critical’. Expect updates for the following issues on Tuesday, August 12th: Keep reading →

Consider the following scenario:

• You have a computer that is running an x64 version of Windows Vista.
• You use Windows Media Player 11 to play a DVD that is set to a region that differs from the default regional setting of the DVD device.

In this scenario, you expect to be prompted with a dialog box that lets you change the regional setting of the DVD device to match the regional setting of the DVD. However, the dialog box is not displayed, and you receive the following error message:

Windows Media Player cannot play the DVD because the disc prohibits playback in your region of the world. You must obtain a disc that is intended for your geographic region.

Note: If you are running an x86 version of Windows Vista in this scenario, you do not experience this issue.

When you minimize Microsoft Windows Media Player to the Windows taskbar in Windows Vista, the player causes Windows Explorer to crash.

Consider the following scenario:

• In Windows Media Player, you enable the Use proxy settings of the Web browser option. (This is the default setting.)
• Your installation of Windows Internet Explorer uses a proxy server to access certain types of URLs.
  In this scenario, Windows Media Player does not use a proxy server as expected to access the same types of URLs. Therefore, Windows Media Player cannot load the content from these types of URLs.

  For example, in Internet Explorer, you add *.server to the Exceptions list in the Proxy Settings dialog box. However, Windows Media Player may unexpectedly bypass Web sites whose URLs contain the following:

  *.server*
  *.server.*

  When Internet Explorer accesses these URLs, it uses the proxy server as expected.

When you install a third-party product that registers its own version of the Wmp.dll file on a Vista based-computer, Windows Media Player stops responding.

When you use the Microsoft Windows Media Player to synchronize lots of files with a Microsoft Windows Mobile device, the connection between Windows Media Player and the device is disconnected.

After you install Microsoft Windows Media Player 11 on a computer that uses Microsoft Windows Media Encoder 9 Series, the encoder cannot use the Microsoft Windows Media Audio 9 Voice codec. When you try to encode a stream by using the Windows Media Audio 9 Voice codec, you receive the following error message:

0xC00D0BC3: An unexpected error occurred with the audio codec.

You try to synchronize content from Microsoft Windows Media Player 11 to a Microsoft Windows Mobile 5-based device with AKU 2.3 or a later AKU. When you do this, the phone connects. However, only the internal storage on the phone is available in Windows Media Player as a synchronization target.