Microsoft’s monthly Patch Tuesday updates aim to address security vulnerabilities in Windows and other Microsoft products.
The November 2023 updates tackled 63 total flaws, including critical elevation of privilege bugs.
Critical Issues
Of the 63 bugs, Microsoft rated 3 as critical due to their potential to allow remote code execution or elevation of privilege.
These critical bugs required immediate patching.
- The first critical bug involved a spoofing vulnerability in Windows SmartScreen.This flaw could have enabled attackers to bypass SmartScreen warnings and protections to trick users into running malicious files.
- The second critical bug existed in the Windows Desktop Manager (DWM) module and could have given attackers elevated privileges if successfully exploited.This would allow attackers to make changes to the system or install programs against the user’s consent.
- The third critical bug concerned the Microsoft Azure File Sync cloud tiering components in Windows.The details were not disclosed, but the vulnerability opened the door for information disclosure or denial of service attacks.
Additional Fixed Issues
Beyond the critical items, the November updates addressed 56 important bugs and 4 moderate bugs.
Two of those bugs were publicly disclosed prior to the updates, increasing the risk they could be exploited.
The updates also fixed publicly disclosed bugs in Microsoft Office and the ASP.NET Core web framework.
Though not actively exploited yet, it was prudent for Microsoft to address these as well.
Applying Updates
As always, it is critical for users to promptly install the monthly patches Microsoft releases.
Allowing the updates to run and not interrupting the process ensures your system fully integrates the fixes.
Delaying updates gives attackers more opportunity to take advantage of the vulnerabilities before they are addressed.
By regularly applying Microsoft’s security updates, users can protect themselves against many of the bugs being actively exploited in the wild.
It remains important to practice defense-in-depth with comprehensive endpoint security too.
But Patch Tuesday updates form one of the fundamental components of securing Windows environments against the ever-evolving threat landscape.
