Microsoft fixes critical vulnerabilities in major patch round after postponement

Microsoft closed a total of 140 different software leaks during its monthly patch Tuesday. The company delayed its previous patch round in February for reasons that are unclear, resulting in the release of a large number of patches, including the previously delayed patches.

Microsoft has published an overview of the vulnerabilities that are fixed in this update. Among them are several critical vulnerabilities, such as the one that could cause a system to crash when connecting to a malicious smb server. The leak that Google’s Project Zero security team has published after a patch has not been released is also included in the overview. Microsoft therefore mentions the responsible researcher in its acknowledgments. The discoverers of the smb leak do not appear to be in the list.

Other critical vulnerabilities were found in the Internet Explorer and Edge browsers; these made it possible to execute arbitrary code remotely. In addition, critical vulnerabilities have been patched in Hyper-V, the Windows PDF library, Uniscribe, and Flash Player, among others.

Microsoft had decided last month not to hold a patch Tuesday because “it identified a last-minute issue that could cause problems for some users.” So far, the Redmond company has not disclosed the exact reason for the postponement. The Registry reports that it may have to do with merging Windows code into OneCore.