Microsoft
is planning to issue twelve security bulletins during this Tuesday
monthly patch release, including a pair of fixes for
vulnerabilities in Office that the company deemed "critical."
Office has been hit especially hard with new attacks in recent
weeks, with five flaws currently unpatched. Exploits for
vulnerabilities in Excel and Word have been used to install malware
on users' systems, raising concern among security experts.
The other three "critical" bulletins will provide a fix for
vulnerabilities in Windows and Microsoft Data Access Components, as
well as a fix for either Windows Live OneCare, Microsoft Anitgen,
Windows Defender or Microsoft ForeFront.
The company did not provide specific information on what specific
vulnerabilities or version of the software would be targeted by the
bulletins. Each security bulletin can contain one or more fixes for
security flaws in one application or software component.
Non-critical fixes for security flaws in Office, Visual Studio, and
Step-By-Step Interactive Training will comprise the remainder of
the planned security bulletins. All three have a maximum security
rating of "Important".
Along with the twelve security bulletins, patch Tuesday will bring
non-security updates for the Windows Malicious Software Removal
Tool and several of Microsoft's software update applications.
