.:Computer Defense:.

Anyone who pays attention to Microsoft and Patch Tuesday is most likely aware that a summary of the patches planned for released is made available on the Thursday before. Seeing as this coming Tuesday is Patch Tuesday, this update was made available on the Thursday that just passed.

The breakdown was as follows:

• 3 Security Bulletins for Windows (Highest rating: Critical)
• 1 Security Bulletin for Visual Studio and Windows (Highest rating: Important)
• 1 Security Bulletin for Office and Windows (Highest rating: Important)
• 3 Security Bulletins for Office (Highest rating: Critical)

Total: 8 Updates.

Then on Friday an update to this summary was released:

• 1 Security Bulletin for Windows (Highest rating: Critical)
• 3 Security Bulletins for Office (Highest rating: Critical)

Total: 4 Updates.

This means that somewhere along the way 4 updates were delayed. Did Microsoft QA find last minute problems with 50% of the patches scheduled to be released? I would think that having issues with half of your development work, especially when you're so close to your deadline that you've announced their existence would be pretty bad for business.

Maybe Microsoft decided that these 4 pulled patches don't warrant immediate patching. That their customers can do without these patches. Even the MSRC had little to say on the issue. A small footnote on the bottom of the announcement of the 8 updates mentions that they've edited the list to the four that will be released... No explanation... which leaves us to question and wonder.

Perhaps Microsoft will be working around the clock this weekend to try and get all 8 patches out the door. That's what a company should do. Then again, we've all seen the ISC post on 'The Missing Microsoft Patches', these are just more that are missing.

I'm hoping that Microsoft at the very least releases all 8 patches come Tuesday...  Even better would be if they released patches for every public exploit against Windows... that's too much to ask though... so I'll settle for the 8 and I know I'm going to be disappointed Tuesday when only 4 patches are released.

Peace,
HT