Microsoft is set to release six patches on December 8, 2009. Three of the six patches are marked as "critical", Microsoft"s highest security rating, while the other three patches are labeled as "Important". These six patches should be the last release package of the year from Microsoft.
Microsoft will be patching a remote code execution on fix out of six patches and one denial of service security hole. The six patches that will be released on Tuesday will patch holes in Windows, Microsoft Office, and Internet Explorer.
The patches will fix security holes in:
- Internet Explorer 5, 6, 7 & 8
- Windows 2000 Service Pack 4
- Windows XP Service Pack 2 & 3
- Windows Vista Service Pack 1 & 2*
- Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2*
- Windows Server 2008 Systems Service Pack 2*
- Office XP Service Pack 3
- Office 2003 Service Pack 3
* Both 32bit and 64bit architecture
Windows 7 will not receive any updates, other than the Internet Explorer 8 patch, leaving Windows 7 with only one patch, which was released back in October.
Microsoft will be hosting a live webcast for anyone interested in asking questions about the security bulletins the day after the release, on December 9 starting at 11:00am PST. The webcast is scheduled to last 90 minutes and can be found here on TechNet.
Five of the six updates will require a restart.
Thanks to Ci7 for the news tip.