Microsoft has released the advanced notification for its upcoming Patch Tuesday security update release, in which the company will be issuing 14 security bulletins that cover 34 vulnerabilities found in Windows, Office and Silverlight software.
The upcoming Patch Tuesday release is one of the biggest patch releases made by Microsoft for a long time. However, the company denied it to be its largest ever.
The upcoming fixes contain patches for 8 ‘Critical’ vulnerabilities which are capable of allowing hackers to remotely execute malicious code on an infected system. The remaining 6 vulnerabilities have been ranked ‘Important’ on the Microsoft severity scale, that could result in an ‘Elevation of Privileges’ condition.
Microsoft said that out of the 8 critical vulnerabilities, one affected Microsoft Office, 5 were credited to Microsoft Windows, while the others were for Windows, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Silverlight. Microsoft Windows also suffered from five of the ‘Important’ rated vulnerabilities while Office was affected by only one.
Microsoft also detailed the software versions of Windows, Office and Silverlight which will updated by the Patch Tuesday release. The Windows XP Service Pack 3 was affected by six ‘Critical’ rated vulnerabilities while Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8 for Windows XP were affected by 3 ‘Critical’ rated vulnerabilities. Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2008 and 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the Windows 7 OS will also receive patches on Tuesday.
Most of the vulnerabilities found in Windows XP Service Pack 3 can also be detected on Windows XP SP 2, which will not be receiving important security update from Microsoft any more. Organizations have been advised to upgrade their systems to Windows XP SP 3 or to the newer Windows 7 OS in order to keep getting continued support from Microsoft.
Microsoft will host a webcast to address customer questions on these bulletins on August 11, 2010, at 11:00 AM Pacific Time.