Microsoft, Adobe issue security updates for more than 50 bugs

Microsoft and Adobe on Tuesday put security administrators to work with the release of security updates covering a swath of issues.

And they're going to have to work fast, as each software provider is patching a vulnerability that is under active exploitation.

Microsoft's update consists of five "critical" and four "important" bulletins, addressing 26 deficiencies in Windows, Internet Explorer (IE), Exchange Server, SQL Server, Server Software, Developer Tools, and Office.

Security researchers who analyzed the patches mostly agreed over which patch is the most pressing to apply: MS12-60. The vulnerability, which impacts Windows Common Controls, is similar to an issue patched in April. According to Microsoft, "limited, targeted" exploits have been spotted that take advantage of the flaw.

"It affects all platforms of Windows and addresses an ActiveX component that's redistributed in many places in Windows," said Paul Henry, security and forensic analyst at Lumension. "It's an issue that was previously patched, and this month's patch cleans up the previous one. This is a very high priority update because it's native in Windows and impacts all Windows platforms."

Adobe, meanwhile, offered updates to its Reader, Acrobat, Shockwave Player and Flash Player products. Reader/Acrobat were upgraded to plug 20 vulnerabilities, Shockwave received five patches and Flash received one fix.

But it was the Flash update that is most important. Adobe said in an advisory that the vulnerability is being actively exploited by attackers in "limited, targeted attacks" against users of Flash for Internet Explorer in Windows.

Microsoft offered a number of other fixes that piqued researchers' interests.