Windows 10: Microsoft passes 130 security fixes for 2015 with final Patch Tuesday

Microsoft passes 130 security fixes for 2015 with final Patch Tuesday update
by Dan Worth

09 Dec 2015

Microsoft issues final 2015 Patch Tuesday update

Microsoft has issued its final Patch Tuesday update of 2015, taking the total number of security fixes for the year to 135. This is well in excess of the 85 issued in 2014.

The December update contained 12 fixes, eight of which are rated critical while the other four are rated as important.

The critical fixes relate to key Microsoft products including Internet Explorer, its new Edge browser, the Silverlight video player and issues within Windows, as well as Skype for Business and Lync. The four important fixes all relate to Windows.

The MS15-124 fix for Internet Explorer is a cumulative update for the browser, fixing several issues. Microsoft said the most severe of these could allow remote code execution if a user visits a specifically crafted web page in IE. The Edge update fixes the same problem.

“An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerabilities could gain the same user rights as the current user,” explains Microsoft in its notes.

Meanwhile, the MS15-128 fix covers similar issues in Microsoft Windows, .NET Framework, Microsoft Office, Skype for Business, Microsoft Lync and Silverlight.

“The vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted document or visits a web page that contains specially crafted embedded fonts," Microsoft's notes explain.

One other notable fix is MS15-135, which, while only rated as important, is the issue that Qualys CTO Wolfgang Kandek said businesses should focus on first, as it addresses a zero-day vulnerability within the Windows kernel.

“There is no further information about how widely spread the vulnerability and its exploit are, but it is worth a top spot in our priority list," he said.

Another fix Kandek said IT admins should focus on is MS15-131, which covers an issue within Microsoft Office and is rated as critical.

"CVE-2015-6172 is a critical vulnerability in Outlook that is triggered by a maliciously formatted email message," he said.

"There is no reasonable workaround: Microsoft suggests turning off the preview pane - the digital equivalent of 'Just don’t do it', so patch this vulnerability as soon as possible."

Kandek also said that while part of the increase in vulnerabilities found and fixed in 2015 can be attributed to the release of new products, such as Windows 10 and its Edge browser, the focus on finding security issues is also growing.

“The majority of the increase is due to new parts of the Windows ecosystem that are being investigated for the first time, a tendency that shows how much more important computer security has become over the years," he said.

Patch Tuesday

Microsoft passes 130 security fixes for 2015 with final Patch Tuesday update - IT News from V3.co.uk

:)

 

windows 10 file explorer and cameras

No need to revert.

Microsoft is release a fix for this issue in the Security Patch that is planned for release on Tuesday.

 

Microsoft windows updates

hey,

General patches for windows are released on Second Tuesday of each month, better known as patch tuesday.

Daily updates consist of malware database refreshes for Windows Defender and Microsoft Security Essentials

Security updates if any critical error then immediately, otherwise on the patch tuesday itself(Not sure about it).

If you have not got updates, reset the windows updates and check if it corrects.

Download Windows Update Reset Script

Make sure you run the file inside with administrator privilegeshope it helps

 

Hm...is the above quote not ambiguous? Both 'fix' and 'workaround' have been used.

Has the Outlook issue been fixed with yesterday's patch or not? I hope that the Outlook issue has been fixed as the suggested workaround is quite inconvenient *Eek

How does a 'maliciously formatted email message' look like?

See also the quote below from https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/.../ms15-131.aspx