Microsoft said it would deliver seven security updates this week — tying the record for January — to patch eight vulnerabilities in Windows and its developer tools.
One of the seven updates was tagged “critical,” the highest threat ranking in Microsoft’s four-step system, which is to fix a remote code execution issue in Media Player. The others were marked “important,” the second-highest rating, even though some of them could conceivably be exploited by attackers to plant malware on users’ PCs.
Microsoft declined to confirm that the January 10th update will include a patch pulled at the last minute a month ago. Given how some of the updates may require a system restart, don’t be surprised if your computer has re-booted if you have automatic windows updates turned on.
January 2012 promises to be a busy month for software patching so be on the lookout for updates from Adobe on January 10 with fixes for gaping holes in the Reader X and Acrobat X software products and Oracle Critical Patch Updates, which are the primary means of releasing security fixes for Oracle products to customers with valid support contracts, on January 17th.
