Microsoft Security Bulletins For March 2015

Welcome to the March 2015 Microsoft Patch Day overview. The guide provides you with information about all security bulletins that the company released this month.

Besides information about each bulletin and links to Microsoft support pages, you find information about affected products as well in this guide.

The number of bulletins that apply to each Microsoft operating system and software product are provided.

Below that you find the list of security advisories that Microsoft released since February and the list of non-security updates.

Executive Summary

• Microsoft released a total of 14 security bulletins
• They address vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows, Office, Microsoft Exchange and Internet Explorer.
• Five bulletins received the highest severity rating of critical.
• The recently discovered Freak attack technique is patched by MS15-031.

Operating System Distribution

All client operating systems with the exception of Windows Vista share the same vulnerabilities and severity ratings. Vista is the only client system not affected by MS15-015.

Windows Server 2008 R2 and newer versions of Windows Server share the same vulnerability distribution while Windows Server 2008 and 2003 are not affected by MS15-015 either.

• Windows Vista: 2 critical, 1 important
• Windows 7:  1 critical, 1 important
• Windows 8: 1 critical, 1 important
• Windows 8.1: 1 critical, 1 important
• Windows RT: 1 critical, 1 important
• Windows RT 8.1:  1 critical, 1 important
• Windows Server 2003: 2 important, 2 moderate
• Windows Server 2008: 2 important, 2 moderate
• Windows Server 2008 R2: 2 important,  1 moderate
• Windows Server 2012: 2 important, 1 moderate
• Windows Server 2012 R2: 2 important, 1 moderate
• Server Core installation:  2 important, 1 moderate

Other Microsoft Products

• Microsoft Exchange Server 2013: 1 important
• Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007, 2010, 2013: 1 important
• Microsoft Office 2007, 2010, 2013: 1 critical
• Microsoft Office 2013 RT: 1 critical
• Other Office software: 1 critical
• Microsoft Office Web Apps 2010, 2013: 1 critical

Security Bulletins

• MS15-018 - Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (3032359) - Critical - Remote Code Execution
• MS15-019 - Vulnerability in VBScript Scripting Engine Could Allow Remote Code Execution (3040297) - Critical - Remote Code Execution
• MS15-020 - Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows Could Allow Remote Code Execution (3041836) - Critical - Remote Code Execution
• MS15-021 - Vulnerabilities in Adobe Font Driver Could Allow Remote Code Execution (3032323) - Critical - Remote Code Execution
• MS15-022 - Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Could Allow Remote Code Execution (3038999) - Critical - Remote Code Execution
• MS15-023 - Vulnerabilities in Kernel-Mode Driver Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (3034344) - Important - Elevation of Privilege
• MS15-024 - Vulnerability in PNG Processing Could Allow Information Disclosure (3035132) - Important - Information Disclosure
• MS15-025 - Vulnerabilities in Windows Kernel Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (3038680) - Important - Elevation of Privilege
• MS15-026 - Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (3040856) - Important - Elevation of Privilege
• MS15-027 - Vulnerability in NETLOGON Could Allow Spoofing (3002657) - Important - Spoofing
• MS15-028 - Vulnerability in Windows Task Scheduler Could Allow Security Feature Bypass (3030377) - Important - Security Feature Bypass
• MS15-029 - Vulnerability in Windows Photo Decoder Component Could Allow Information Disclosure (3035126) - Important - Information Disclosure
• MS15-030 - Vulnerability in Remote Desktop Protocol Could Allow Denial of Service (3039976) - Important - Denial of Service
• MS15-031 - Vulnerability in Schannel Could Allow Security Feature Bypass (3046049) - Important - Security Feature Bypass

The bulletins MS15-022, MS15-025 and MS15-031 are listed with known issues. Check out the support pages 3038999, 3038680 and 3046049 for additional information.

Security Advisory

• Microsoft Security Advisory 3046015 - Vulnerability in Schannel Could Allow Security Feature Bypass
• Microsoft Security Advisory 3033929 - Availability of SHA-2 Code Signing Support for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
• Microsoft Security Advisory 2755801 (revised) - Update for Vulnerabilities in Adobe Flash Player in Internet Explorer

Non-security related updates

• Update for Windows Server 2003 (KB3000988) - "The profile for the user is a temporary profile" error when you install a MSI package in Windows
• Update for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista (KB3008627) - Unexpected UAC prompt after you install update 2918614 in Windows
• Update for Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 (KB3012235) - The Print Pictures Wizard stops responding in Windows 8.1
• Update for Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 8, Windows RT, and Windows Server 2012 (KB3012702) - Some default program associations for a roamed user may be lost when you log on to an RDS server in Windows
• Update for Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 (KB3013172) - Individual memory devices cannot be ejected through the Safely Remove Hardware UI in Windows 8.1
• Update for Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 (KB3018133) - Content on the lock screen is displayed inappropriately in Windows that has update 2919355 installed
• Update for Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 (KB3022796) - Update for RichTextBox controls and ALT codes in Windows 8.1
• Update for Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 (KB3024751) - The TAB key inserts a tab stop when you enter Wi-Fi credentials on a Surface Pro 3
• Update for Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 (KB3024755)
• Update for Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8, and Windows RT (KB3025417) - March 2015 antimalware platform update for Windows Defender in Windows 8.1 and Windows 8
• Update for Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 (KB3027209) - Reliability improvements for Windows 8.1: March 2015
• Update for Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1 (KB3029606) - Update to improve Bluetooth driver diagnosis in Windows 8.1
• Update for Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 (KB3029803)
• Update for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 (KB3030947) - Compatibility issues for applications that rely on a certain code layout for memory in Windows
• Update for Windows 8, Windows RT, and Windows Server 2012 (KB3032613) -  Text in Polish, Bulgarian, or Greek does not display completely on the Windows Store installation page in Windows
• Update for Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 (KB3034348) - "Access denied" error when you use a Windows Store app to configure printer property settings in Windows
• Update for Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 (KB3035527) - Problems occur after you pin and unpin a Win32 app from the taskbar in Windows
• Update for Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 (KB3035553) - Black screen after quickly swiping up and down on the Windows 8.1 lock screen
• Update for Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 (KB3036228) - "0x00000119" Stop error when you play a video by using an application in Windows
• Update for Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8, and Windows RT (KB3036562) - Updated APN database entries for Y!Mobile and Truphone in Windows 8.1 and Windows 8
• Update for Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 (KB3036612) - Windows Store apps may crash in Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1
• Update for Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2 (KB3037623)
• Update for Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows Server 2012, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Server 2008 (KB3006137)

How to download and install the March 2015 security updates

All security updates are already available via Windows Update. If you have enabled the Freak Attack workaround that Microsoft suggested, you may need to disable the Group Policy setting before you can do so as you may get an unknown Windows Update error otherwise.

Here is how you do that:

1. Tap on the Windows-key, type gpedit.msc and hit enter.
2. Go to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Network > SSL Configuration Settings.
3. Double-click on SSL Cipher Suite Order.
4. Set it to disabled.

Updates are also available on Microsoft's Download Center, the monthly security ISO images that the company releases, or third-party tools like WSUS.

Additional information

• Microsoft Security Response Center blog on the 2015 Bulletin Release
• Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for March 2015
• List of software updates for Microsoft products
• Our in-depth update guide for Windows

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