Microsoft Fixes 4 Critical Windows and Office Flaws for Patch Tuesday; MacBooks with Office 2011 and Outlook for Office 365 get the Updates too?

By Staff Writer

Apr 15 2015, 10:00 AM EDT

Users of Office and Windows can expect another set of updates from Microsoft's latest Patch Tuesday. Fully patched Microsoft Windows 8.1 PCs show 12 important updates, including the Malicious Software Removal Tool, and nine updates for Office 2010. 12 bug fixes and updates for Windows 7 are also included in the collection of updates.

Among those sets of security bulletins, four are rated critical. These are MS15-032, MS15-033, MS15-034, and MS15-035. The MS15-032 is called the cumulative security update for Internet Explorer as it addresses 10 IE issues. Users of IE need to have this patch not only because nine of the issues are rated critical but also because IE6 and IE11 are vulnerable without it.

MS15-033 guarantees a zero-day susceptibility in Microsoft Office, a reason which according to Qualys CTO Wolfgang Kandek should make this security patch a priority by Windows users. It also addresses two critical RCE issues that Office 2007 and 2010 are most vulnerable to. It applies to Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft Word 2007 and 2010, Microsoft Word Viewer, Word Automation Services on Share Point 2010, Microsoft Office Web Apps Server 2010, and Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack.

MS15-034 fixes flaws in HTTP.sys. MS features that are critical to it include supported editions of Windows server 2008 R2, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2. Security analyst for Tripwire Andrew Storms supplied additional info about tha patch, where he reveals that it can be a "potentially catastrophic fix for a remote code execution hole in http.sys."

MS15-035 patches a flaw in Microsoft graphic components particularly in the EMF file format. This vulnerability is limited to Windows Vista and Windows 7 as well as Windows 2003 and 2008. Kandek adds that desktop and laptop boxes could be vulnerable to this, too. It does not apply to Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 and later, however.

Aside from Windows 8.1, these security patches and bug fixes are also applicable to MacBooks with Office 2011 and Outlook for Mac for Office 365 "on the list of affected surface". The number of updates seems high but it is considered little compared to last month's where some users saw more than 50 updates.