MS Schedules Two Patches for Tuesday
Microsoft plans two fixes as part of its monthly Patch Tuesday updates to be released next week, the company said Thursday. An update marked for Office has been rated as "critical," and another for the Windows operating system is marked "important."
As is normal with advance security bulletins, Microsoft did not disclose what vulnerabilities the patches would address. This is done to prevent hackers from taking advantage of flaws before customers have a chance to download the updates.
However, through reports from security firms, possible vulnerabilities that may be fixed with these updates can be deduced. According to eEye Digital Security, one Microsoft flaw remains "overdue" -- a medium-risk issue involving a possible denial of service vulnerability.
On Microsoft's scale of severity, a "critical" flaw includes those that can be exploited without any interaction by the user. On the other hand, an "important" flaw requires user interaction to put a system at risk.
March's updates follow seven updates as part of February's Patch Tuesday release. Those included fixes for two critical flaws in Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player, and five important updates addressing issues in Windows and Microsoft Office.
An update to Microsoft's Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool is also expected Tuesday, according to the advisory. Also, one non-security related high-priority update will be released via Microsoft Update and Software Update Services as well.
A webcast discussing the patches is scheduled for 11AM on Wednesday, Microsoft said.