Question

Windows Security Update (KB973507) knocked out our ability to use the Microsoft Office Document Imaging 2003 Viewer Control

Asked by: infotechCDI

We have a custom Visual Basic application which uses the MDIVWCTL.DLL file provided by the Microsoft Office Document Imaging 2003 Viewer Control, to make a scanned image available to our end user.  This has been working perfectly up until a couple of days ago.

After extensive troubleshooting we have determined that the application of the Security Update for Windows XP (KB973507) causes our application to crash and no longer be able to call the MDIVWCTL.DLL file to display our image.  Unfortunately rolling back the updates is not an option because on systems that are current with updates there are 5 other updates that are dependent on this particular update (KB956744, KB960859, KB971557, KB971657, & KB973869). In addition the PC running our application is not always under our administration so I can't image any of our clients would welcome the fact that we would be asking them to remove security patches.

We know for sure that update KB975307 is the cause.  This has been proven by taking an un-updated system, and applying updates from the past month one by one until the application stops working.  It stopped working after the install of KB973507.  I was unable to uninstall this update since I had none of the other dependent updates and as soon as it was uninstalled the application started functioning again.

What is the best way to approach this issue?  I would imagine since the control is a Microsoft Product that they should be able to (and would want to) address any issue that causes it to stop working.  However, since this is the first time encountering such an issue I thought it would be best to post it here to get the experts' advice.

Thanks in advance.

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Asked On
2009-08-17 at 12:33:02ID24659316
Tags

Microsoft Office Imaging Viewer

,

Windows XP

,

Microsoft Office

,

Windows Update

Topics

Windows XP Operating System

,

Microsoft Applications

Participating Experts
1
Points
500
Comments
6

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Answers

 

by: ram_keralaPosted on 2009-08-17 at 12:45:22ID: 25117725

This KB is replacing other dll file -  Atl.dll
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973507

Also the while installing KB, setup program keeps a backup of old version in C:\windows\ folders

So , you can create a test senario in one of the machine and uninstall the mentioned KB and confirm your application is working


 

by: infotechCDIPosted on 2009-08-17 at 12:50:23ID: 25117771

Thank you for the quick reply.  We did see that the kb is replacing a different dll file - however it is in fact still breaking our application.

As I mentioned in my original post - we already did such a test scenario that you mention.  I took a system in which the application was working.  I installed windows updates from the past month one by one and after each one was installed I tested our application to ensure it was still working.  It stopped working after I installed KB973507.  I then uninstalled KB973507, rebooted as prompted, and our application started working again.

Therefore I do think it is safe to say that this update is the cause of our application is breaking - however I am not quite sure how to address this problem so we can get a resolution.

Thanks.

 

by: ram_keralaPosted on 2009-08-19 at 06:46:46ID: 25132518

Which version of office 2003 are you using ? ie SP1 / SP2 or SP3 ?

 

by: infotechCDIPosted on 2009-08-19 at 06:53:01ID: 25132589

SP3.

Thank you.

 

by: ram_keralaPosted on 2009-08-20 at 09:45:23ID: 25144608

Yes, this issue is due to KB973507 only, please find the below link which clearely says about it.


http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms09-035.mspx


The security update addresses the vulnerabilities by modifying the ATL headers so that components
and controls built using the headers can safely initialize from a data stream. For more information about the vulnerabilities, .

 Developers who have built components and controls using ATL should download this update and recompile their components and controls following the guidance provided in the following MSDN article.

Hope this may help you

 

by: infotechCDIPosted on 2009-08-24 at 13:15:57ID: 25172100

Thank you for your help.  Unfortunately our developer does not have this update installed.  Our developer does not believe this will resolve the problem and refuses to try it, therefore I cannot say with certainty that this would have resolved the issue... however, what is in the articles and what you posted do make absolute sense so if anyone else encounters this issue I would strongly suggest following ram's advice and trying to recompile.  I apologize I cannot provide absolute certainty but thank you for your help and quick responses.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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