Microsoft is gearing up to release patches for four security vulnerabilities across its Windows
and Office products next week. The bulletins will fix 22 flaws, according to Microsoft’s July 7
Patch Tuesday advance notification.
Three of these bulletins will address vulnerabilities in Windows OS versions. The fourth will deal
with an Office 2003 security flaw.
Only one bulletin has a severity rating of ‘critical’. It addresses vulnerabilities in Windows
Vista SP1, SP2 and Windows 7, which can lead to a remote code execute. This vulnerability is
present in the 64- and 32-bit versions of these operating systems.
The other two bulletins addressing flaws present in all currently supported versions of the Windows
operating system (including Server 2008), have a severity rating of 'important'. These two
bulletins address bugs that might lead to an elevation in privilege. The last bulletin, also rated
important, addresses security vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s Visio 2003, SP3 which could be
exploited to perform a remote code-execute.
While this month’s patch Tuesday patch is relatively light, it might be disruptive for
administrators to deploy, since they affect operating systems and require restarts. The Office 2003
patch ‘may require restart’, according to the advance notification on Microsoft’s Technet
website.
July’s Patch Tuesday release is slated for July 12, and expected to be the last security
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update to
Vista SP1. These updates will be available through Automatic updates and Windows update.