patch tuesday

Microsoft will next week unveil a series of security bulletins meant to address five security flaws. The fixes are part of the company's monthly Patch Tuesday release, and will most importantly fix a critical Windows XP Help Bug flaw in Windows' ... Help and Support Center. The series of fixes include four patches for the five vulnerabilities, three of which have been dubbed "critical" by Microsoft -- the company's highest level of alert. Each of these critical issues involve holes that, if exploited, could allow a hacker to launch a remote code execution attack upon an unsuspecting user's PC. ... (view more)

Microsoft has officially released a patch addressing a widely-reported critical zero-day flaw in its Internet Explorer browser. The patch addresses not just one or two critical issues, but ten in total, leading security experts to emphasize the ... importance in having all Internet Explorer users upgrade to Internet Explorer 8. Yesterday's emergency patch release is special for Microsoft, which typically reserves the second Tuesday of every month for its monthly updates. However, since a critical zero-day flaw in Internet Explorer versions 6 and 7 eluded the last Patch Tuesday release, Microsoft ... (view more)

It appears Microsoft won't wait until April's Patch Tuesday to release a fix for a recently revealed zero-day vulnerability found in the company's popular web browser, Internet Explorer. The company is, according to reports, working furiously to get ... the patch out soon, but hasn't guaranteed it will arrive here before next month. Releasing emergency patches is rare for Microsoft. However, if the situation warrants fast action the company has demonstrated in the past that it will jump days or even weeks ahead of its monthly Patch Tuesday releases. In this case, Microsoft's March Patch Tuesday ... (view more)

Microsoft yesterday unveiled its March Patch Tuesday offering, and by comparison to recent months it was a relatively calm affair. Only two security bulletins addressing eight vulnerabilities were announced, but they were joined by a warning related ... to a new zero-day Internet Explorer flaw which does not yet have a fix. Both of the bulletins Microsoft released in accordance with its March Patch Tuesday have been designated "important". That's a big step down from this past February's Patch Tuesday , where about one-fifth of the 26 vulnerabilities were considered "critical," Microsoft's ... (view more)

Less than a day after its last Patch Tuesday release Microsoft was forced to admit the existence of a Windows 7 zero day bug affecting the Server Message Block, or SMB protocol used for sharing files and printers. It's serious, too: according to ... reports, the vulnerability could allow a hacker to remotely crash Windows 7 (or, alternatively, a Windows Server 2008 R2 system). We first reported on this issue last week, but at the time the Redmond-based software giant had yet to weigh in. Microsoft responded to the issue by releasing an advisory that describes in closer detail exactly what Windows ... (view more)

Microsoft is releasing two emergency patches this morning outside of its usual Patch Tuesday rotation. The Redmond-based company has determined that fix addresses issues that require immediate attention. Microsoft usually releases a Patch Tuesday ... fix about once a month addressing security vulnerabilities marked "critical" or "important," the latter being regarded as slightly less concerning. However, it rarely releases a patch outside of the monthly rotation unless something is truly wrong. Emergency Fix Targets Visual Studio, IE At this point, the company hasn't fully disclosed the problem, ... (view more)

Patch Tuesday is the second Tuesday of each month, the day on which Microsoft releases security patches. Windows Updates Starting with Windows 98, Microsoft included Windows Update: a system that automatically checks for security patches and fixes ... for MS Windows, MS Office, and other Microsoft products, and notifies the user of such updates. Automatic Updates vs Windows Updates The idea of Windows Update system suffered from two primary issues. On one hand, less experienced users were not aware of updates, and would not run them -- leaving their system vulnerable to exploits. Microsoft's ... (view more)