Microsoft to release 12 patches
Microsoft plans to push out 12 patches on Tuesday, including seven for vulnerabilities labeled "critical" by the software giant.According to the company's advance notification, those seven patches will fix bugs in Windows, Internet Explorer, Media Player, Access, Excel, PowerPoint and Office - all of which could be exploited to execute remote code.
The other fixes, labeled "important," affect vulnerabilities in Windows, Outlook Express, Messenger and Word.
According to eEye Digital Security research, there currently are two zero-day vulnerabilities impacting Microsoft offerings, one for Word and one for an ActiveX control in Access. Both flaws have been outstanding for about 30 days.
The Access bug has been the subject of widespread public exploits, mostly in China, while the Word vulnerability has been used in exploits.
As usual, Microsoft on Tuesday also plans to push out non-security updates for Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services and Microsoft Update. And the company said it will also release an update to its Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool.
Patches are due out about 1 p.m. EST on Tuesday.
