Microsoft is giving IT departments the heads-up to expect a total of nine patches that shore up 13 different vulnerabilities when it releases its next batch of security fixes next week.
As eSecurity Planet reports, four of the nine new patches are of the “critical” variety.
Three of the critical patches fix holes in systems running Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista. At least two of the critical patches also affect Windows Server 2008, although none of the patches are critical for Windows 7 — good news for users and IT administrators running the latest version of the OS. A fourth critical patch impacts Outlook 2002 Service Pack 3.
In terms of how much work IT administrators are facing, all nine patches will either require, or may require, that each affected PC or server be restarted — often a time-consuming task.
Microsoft plans to release nine patches for security holes in a handful of its products when it ships its September security fixes on Tuesday, the company said.
The patches, which can each include numerous fixes, are part of Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) regular monthly “Patch Tuesday” security release, during which the company issues most of its fixes for security-related holes in its software.
On the Thursday prior to Patch Tuesday, Microsoft sends advance notifications to customers as a heads-up to give them some idea of how much time and effort they’ll have to plan for installing and testing the coming patches.
