SecurityRatty: Windows Vista vs Windows XP SP2 Vulnerability Report 2007

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Windows Vista vs Windows XP SP2 Vulnerability Report 2007

2008-05-14 22:50:00 by jrjones in Jeff Jones Security Blog

In the wake of my Windows Vista One Year Vulnerability Report, I have received many questions regarding the current vulnerability record of Windows Vista as compares with Windows XP SP2.

This short paper is a compilation of vulnerability data for Microsoft Windows Vista and Microsoft Windows XP SP2 for calendar year 2007 and a brief analysis to see if any benefit is apparent for users of one OS over the other.

I found that Windows Vista offers benefit over Windows XP SP2 in the following ways for 2007:

Windows Vista had 30% fewer Security Bulletins than Windows XP
Windows Vista had 20% fewer vulnerabilities than Windows XP
Windows Vista had 28% fewer Critical and Important vulnerabilities than Windows XP
26 vulnerabilities on Windows Vista are less severe for any users running as standard user.

Here is the chart breaking down the vulnerabilities by Microsoft severity ratings

vulns-vsev