Patch Tuesday Release Will Include 6 'Critical' Updates

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Microsoft has announced that this week’s “Patch Tuesday” release of security updates will include seven bulletins, six of which are considered “critical.” The fixes cover a wide array of software, meaning that nearly everyone who uses Microsoft products will likely be affected.

Infosecurity reported, “Microsoft will issue seven security bulletins in this month’s Patch Tuesday tomorrow. Six are marked critical and one is marked important, heralding a busy period for both desktop and server admins.”

The Register quoted security expert Paul Henry, who said, “This is one of the uglier releases we’ve seen from Microsoft this year. To say that all Microsoft products are affected and everything is affected critically is not an understatement. It’s difficult to prioritize one or two because all the bulletins are significant this Patch Tuesday.”

Brian Prince with eWeek added, “The six critical bulletins this month brings the total for the year to 22, which Henry called a fairly high number considering Microsoft only released 34 critical bulletins during all of last year. ‘All six of the critical bulletins this month are remote code execution vulnerabilities, which I find concerning,’ he added. ‘Since these types of vulnerabilities give attackers access to your machine without needing physical access or sometimes even a password, it’s definitely a cause for concern.'”

Meanwhile, many people are interested in another forthcoming update from Microsoft–Windows 8.1. According to PCWorld’s Mark Hachman, “Microsoft will hand over its most recent version of the operating system, Windows 8.1, to OEMs in late August, Microsoft’s Windows marketing chief told its partners on Monday morning…. Microsoft did not say when Windows 8.1 would be released to consumers in its final form, but history suggests that Microsoft should at least be on track to ship by October.”