Hi, this is Eric Maurice again!

Oracle just released a Security Alert to announce the availability of fixes for two vulnerabilities (CVE-2010-0886 and CVE-2010-0887) affecting Oracle Java SE and Oracle Java For Business. Both vulnerabilities only affect Java when running in a 32-bit web browser. These vulnerabilities are not present in Java running on servers or standalone Java desktop applications and do not impact any Oracle server based software.

The first vulnerability (CVE-2010-0886) affects the Java Deployment Toolkit (version 6 update 10 through 19) on Windows only. The second vulnerability (CVE-2010-0887) affects the Java Plug-in (version 6 update 18 and 19) on Windows, Solaris and Linux.

Both vulnerabilities may allow an attacker to run commands on the user's system with the privileges of the user, whose system may have become compromised by visiting a malicious web site. Oracle rated the severity of both vulnerabilities with a CVSS Base Score of 10.0 because many Windows users grant themselves administrative privileges. However, on other platforms, or for Windows users with limited privileges, the CVSS Base Score is only 7.5, because a successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities cannot result in a full compromise of the affected system.

Users can quickly determine if they are running vulnerable versions of Java by pointing their browser to http://www.java.com/en/download/help/testvm.xml. Java SE users can visit http://www.java.com and download the most recent release of Java SE to address these vulnerabilities.

Because of the criticality of these vulnerabilities, and the publicity they received as a result of their disclosure before the availability of a fix, Oracle recommends that all customers and Java users update their Java installation to the most recent version (6 update 20).

For More Information:
The advisory for the Security Alert for CVE-2010-0886 and CVE-2010-0887 is located at http://www.oracle.com/technology/deploy/security/alerts/alert-cve-2010-0886.html