After a very light Patch Tuesday in September, Microsoft returns to more typical patch levels this month. According to their October advanced notification, Microsoft plans to release seven security bulletins next week, fixing around 20 vulnerabilities in some of their most popular products. The affect products include Windows, Office, SQL Server, Microsoft Server Software, and a few other products. Microsoft only rated one of the bulletins as Critical, and the rest as Important.
Despite the return to more typical patch numbers, next Tuesday’s Patch Day doesn’t appear too substantial. With only one Office update rated Critical, this upcoming Patch Day seems less severe than many we’ve had in the past. That said, remote attackers will probably be able to leverage that critical Office issue to execute code on your computer. So it’s still important that you download, test and deploy next week’s updates as quickly as you can.
Also, don’t forget Microsoft’s planned certificate handling update. As I mentioned in previous posts, Microsoft plans to push an update that forces Windows computers to only accepts 1024 bit (and higher) RSA certificates. Be sure you’ve checked the certificates in your PKI infrastructure before next Tuesday.
I’ll release a more details about Microsoft’s updates next week. Stay tuned! — Corey Nachreiner, CISSP (@SecAdept)