Microsoft to plug 22 holes with four patches

Microsoft expects to release four patches next week to address 22 vulnerabilities in Windows and Office, the company said Thursday.

The bulletins, one of which is graded "critical" and three of which are rated "important, are due Tuesday at about 2 p.m. EST.

The critical patch will address vulnerabilities in the two most recent Windows versions, Vista and 7, according to an advance notification advisory. Two of the important fixes will respond to flaws in all supported versions of Windows.

Meanwhile, the remaining important patch will address issues in Visio 2003 Service Pack 3, a commercial diagramming program that is part of Office.

July's update, which has an unusually high number of vulnerabilities being fixed despite the relatively small number of patches, follows June's update, which repaired 34 bugs with 16 patches.