Blog: December 2012 Microsoft Security Bulletins - IE, MSWord, Font Parsing, and More
The folks at the Microsoft Security Response Center are winding down 2012 with another full release of seven Security Bulletins containing fixes for memory corruption on application, server, and system code along with a Certificate Bypass problem and set of fixes for Oracle Outside In software components. Within the seven Bulletins, they are patching at least 11 vulnerabilities, accurately described in the Advanced notification for this month. The MSRC recommends that their Internet Explorer (MS12-077) and Microsoft Word (MS12-079) updates are addressed asap.
The December 2012 Microsoft Security Bulletin Release fixes a varying array of versions of software and platforms per Bulletin. For consumers, that mostly means ensuring that the Microsoft Update software is enabled, run, and selected patches applied. For the vast majority of Windows customers, this month's release also requires that customers reboot their systems following the updates - both the kernel level font parsing updates and the file handling updates require a reboot and hotpatching is not supported. The lack of hotpatch support means that the fix is not enabled on the system until it is rebooted. For IT folks in large and small organizations, this month's Release also requires some time set aside to understand whether or not your organization is running the versions of software requiring patches and accordingly address your environment.
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Blog: December 2012 Microsoft Security Bulletins - IE, MSWord, Font Parsing, and More