Technical Information

Brief overview of the risk:
This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerability could allow security feature bypass if an attacker, by way of a man-in-the-middle attack, causes the Group Policy Security Configuration Engine policy file on a targeted system to become corrupted or otherwise unreadable. This results in the Group Policy settings on the system to revert to their default, and potentially less secure, state.

Detailed Information on the risk:

A security feature bypass vulnerability exists in the Group Policy application of Security Configuration policies that could cause Group Policy settings on a targeted system to revert to their default, and potentially less secure, state. An attacker could accomplish this by way of a man-in-the-middle attack that modifies domain controller responses to client requests.

Further information on this exploit is available at : MS15-014

Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 
Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition Service Pack 2 
Windows Server 2003 with SP2 for Itanium-based Systems 
Windows Vista Service Pack 2 
Windows Vista x64 Edition Service Pack 2 
Windows Server 2008 for 32-bit Systems Service Pack 2 
Windows Server 2008 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 2 
Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems Service Pack 2 
Windows 7 for 32-bit Systems Service Pack 1 
Windows 7 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 1 
Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 1 
Windows Server 2008 R2 for Itanium-based Systems Service Pack 1 
Windows 8 for 32-bit Systems 
Windows 8 for x64-based Systems 
Windows 8.1 for 32-bit Systems 
Windows 8.1 for x64-based Systems 
Windows Server 2012 
Windows Server 2012 R2 
Windows RT[1] 
Windows RT 8.1[1]