Microsoft Patch Tuesday December 08

Microsoft released another batch of patches using their regular schedule. A total of eight security bulletins have been published that contain descriptions of security vulnerabilities of which six have been classified as critical and two as important.

The easiest way to install the patches is by downloading and installing the security patches at Windows Update which provides access to all security updates even for users who run a non legit version of Windows.

Microsoft did also release a new version of the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool which is now able to detect two new families of malware (Win32/FakeXPA and Win32/Yektel)

• MS08-070: Vulnerabilities in Visual Basic 6.0 Runtime Extended Files (ActiveX Controls) Could Allow Remote Code Execution (932349) which is rated "Critical"
• MS08-071: Vulnerabilities in GDI Could Allow Remote Code Execution (956802) which is rated "Critical"
• MS08-072: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Word Could Allow Remote Code Execution (957173) which is rated "Critical"
• MS08-073: Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (958215) which is rated "Critical"
• MS08-074: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Excel Could Allow Remote Code Execution (959070) which is rated "Critical"
• MS08-075: Vulnerabilities in Windows Search Could Allow Remote Code Execution (959349) which is rated "Critical"
• MS08-076: Vulnerabilities in Windows Media Components Could Allow Remote Code Execution (959807) which is rated "Important"
• MS08-077: Vulnerability in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server Could Cause Elevation of Privilege (957175) which is rated "Important"

Windows users should install the updates as soon as possible to secure their computer system. The updates are also available for manual download and installation on Microsoft's Download Center. Here you can download the patches individually, or as Security Release ISO images that are available for each month separately. The core benefit of downloading the patches from the site is that you only need to download them once instead of multiple times if you need to deploy the updates on multiple systems.