The PostgreSQL Global Development Group has released a security update to all current versions of the PostgreSQL database system, including versions 9.2.4, 9.1.9, 9.0.13, and 8.4.17. This update fixes a high-exposure security vulnerability in versions 9.0 and later. All users of the affected versions are strongly urged to apply the update immediately.

A major security issue fixed in this release, CVE-2013-1899, makes it possible for a connection request containing a database name that begins with "-" to be crafted that can damage or destroy files within a server's data directory. Anyone with access to the port the PostgreSQL server listens on can initiate this request. This issue was discovered by Mitsumasa Kondo and Kyotaro Horiguchi of NTT Open Source Software Center.

Two lesser security fixes are also included in this release: CVE-2013-1900, wherein random numbers generated by contrib/pgcrypto functions may be easy for another database user to guess, and CVE-2013-1901, which mistakenly allows an unprivileged user to run commands that could interfere with in-progress backups. Finally, this release fixes two security issues with the graphical installers for Linux and Mac OS X: insecure passing of superuser passwords to a script, CVE-2013-1903 and the use of predictable filenames in /tmp CVE-2013-1902. Marko Kreen, Noah Misch and Stefan Kaltenbrunner reported these issues, respectively.

We are grateful for each developer's efforts in making PostgreSQL more secure.

This release also corrects several errors in management of GiST indexes. After installing this update, it is advisable to REINDEX any GiST indexes that meet one or more of the conditions described below.

This update release also contains fixes for many minor issues discovered and patched by the PostgreSQL community in the last two months, including:

• Fix GiST indexes to not use "fuzzy" geometric comparisons for box, polygon, circle, and point columns
• Fix bugs in contrib/btree_gist for GiST indexes on text, bytea, bit, and numeric columns
• Fix bugs in page splitting code for multi-column GiST indexes
• Fix buffer leak in WAL replay causing "incorrect local pin count" errors
• Ensure crash recovery before entering archive recovery during unclean shutdown when recovery.conf is present
• Avoid deleting not-yet-archived WAL files during crash recovery
• Fix race condition in DELETE RETURNING
• Fix possible planner crash after adding columns to a view depending on another view
• Eliminate memory leaks in PL/Perl's spi_prepare() function
• Fix pg_dumpall to handle database names containing "=" correctly
• Avoid crash in pg_dump when an incorrect connection string is given
• Ignore invalid indexes in pg_dump and pg_upgrade
• Include only the current server version's subdirectory when backing up a tablespace with pg_basebackup
• Add a server version check in pg_basebackup and pg_receivexlog
• Fix contrib/dblink to handle inconsistent settings of DateStyle or IntervalStyle safely
• Fix contrib/pg_trgm's similarity() function to return zero for trigram-less strings
• Enable building PostgreSQL with Microsoft Visual Studio 2012
• Update time zone data files for DST law changes in Chile, Haiti, Morocco, Paraguay, and some Russian areas

As always, update releases only require installation of packages and a database system restart. You do not need to dump/restore or use pg_upgrade for this update release. Users who have skipped multiple update releases may need to perform additional, post-update steps; see the Release Notes for details.

Links:

• Download
• Release Notes
• Release FAQ

REDMOND, Wash. — April 3, 2013 — The Obama for America campaign selected Microsoft Lync as the communications platform for hundreds of campaign staff in its Chicago headquarters and in some states for the 2012 elections. The campaign needed to upgrade from a private branch exchange (PBX) system to a more flexible cloud-based solution that could scale and adapt to support thousands of mission-critical calls in multiple locations at any given time.

“When the campaign began in 2011, we couldn’t predict how big it would get or when, so scalability and deployment efficiency were two of the most important features for us,” said Rajeev Chopra, president of the MIS Department Inc. in Chicago and chief information officer at Obama for America. “Controlling our systems with Lync also provided much more flexibility.”

As part of the deployment, the campaign’s primary phone number and headquarters voter hotline were managed through Lync in order to handle calls that numbered in the hundreds of thousands per day. Over 2,000 people were connected via Lync; this number increased at key points in the campaign, such as during the debates and the Democratic National Convention, and Lync was able to quickly and easily scale to meet demand.

The ability to work from anywhere also created benefits that expanded beyond the campaign staff and volunteers. Because they were able to be fully mobile on Lync and move from the office to the field without needing to transfer their phone number every time, the IT staff was able to free up time and support other mission-critical activities to keep the campaign running smoothly.

“It was really useful to see how Lync could adapt to the way our multilocation operation works,” Chopra said. “We didn’t start with Lync in every office, but we deployed it in our Chicago headquarters, and those employees were able to seamlessly transition to the field while retaining their infrastructure. This ensured their focus remained on reaching out directly to voters and not on technology limitations."

“On election day, volunteers wanted to keep answering phones, even when their relief had arrived. Instead of turning people away from headquarters, we were able to plug them in, light up a port and place them anywhere there was an empty desk,” Chopra said. “Our voter protection hotline was able to be increased at any time.”

More information about how organizations are turning to Microsoft technology is available on the Microsoft Customer Spotlight newsroom.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

PGConf.EU 2013 will be held on Oct 29-Nov 1, in at the Conrad Hotel in downtown Dublin, Ireland.

The format will be the same as previous years - one day of training before the main event consisting of three days fully packed with sessions about PostgreSQL.

We are hard at work to get our sponsorship campaign ready and intend to launch it within April. Also we are working on the call for papers and opening the registrations. So, please stay tuned and think about possible talk submissions!

So for now - mark your calendars, and start planning your trip! Follow the RSS feed from the website or our twitter feed for updates as soon as we know more details!

We look forward to seeing you this autumn on the Emerald Isle.

NVIDIA today announced five new notebook GPUs which deliver a trifecta of technologies that seamlessly and automatically maximize a consumer's notebook performance and experience.