October 2016 Patch Tuesday includes 10 Windows Security Updates

Today is the October 2016 Microsoft Patch Tuesday and we have ten security updates being released by Microsoft. Of these ten updates, five of them are rated as Critical as they allow remote code execution on the affected computer.

Remote Code Execution vulnerabilities are ones that allow an attacker to remotely execute commands on a computer. These commands could download further software, add user accounts, or perform virtually any action on the vulnerable computer.

All Windows users should immediately run Windows update and install all of the available updates as soon as possible. For a full list of the security updates, vulnerabilities, and links to their respective bulletins, please see the table below.

October Microsoft Patch Tuesday Security Updates:

MS16-118 Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (KB3192887) - Critical 

This security update resolves vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer. The most severe of the vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted webpage using Internet Explorer. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerabilities could gain the same user rights as the current user. If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker could take control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.

This security update is rated Critical for Internet Explorer 9 (IE 9), and Internet Explorer 11 (IE 11) on affected Windows clients, and Moderate for Internet Explorer 9 (IE 9), Internet Explorer 10 (IE 10), and Internet Explorer 11 (IE 11) on affected Windows servers. For more information, see the Affected Software section.

The update addresses the vulnerabilities by correcting how Internet Explorer handles:

• objects in memory
• namespace boundaries

Note: For Vista and Windows Server 2008 operating systems installing the 3191492 cumulative update by itself does not fully protect against CVE-2016-3298 — you must also install security update 3193515 in MS16-126 to be fully protected from the vulnerability.

MS16-119 Cumulative Security Update for Microsoft Edge (KB3192890) - Critical 

This security update resolves vulnerabilities in Microsoft Edge. The most severe of the vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted webpage using Microsoft Edge. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerabilities could gain the same user rights as the current user. Customers whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users with administrative user rights.

This security update is rated Critical for Microsoft Edge on Windows 10. For more information, see theAffected Software section.

The update addresses the vulnerabilities by:

• modifying how Microsoft Edge and certain functions handle objects in memory.
• modifying how the Chakra JavaScript scripting engine handles objects in memory.
• restricting what information is returned to Microsoft Edge.
• changing the way Microsoft Browsers store credentials in memory.
• correcting how Microsoft Browsers handle namespace boundaries.
• correcting how Microsoft Edge Content Security Policy validates documents.

MS16-120 Security Update for Microsoft Graphics Component (KB3192884) - Critical 

This security update resolves vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, Skype for Business, Silverlight and Microsoft Lync. The most serious of these vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user either visits a specially crafted website or opens a specially crafted document. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.

This security update is rated Critical for:

• All supported releases of Microsoft Windows

This security update is rated Important for:

• Affected editions of Microsoft Office 2007 and Microsoft Office 2010
• Affected editions of Skype for Business 2016, Microsoft Lync 2013, and Microsoft Lync 2010
• Affected editions of Microsoft .NET Framework
• Affected editions of Silverlight

The security update addresses the vulnerabilities by correcting how the Windows font library handles embedded fonts.

MS16-121 Security Update for Microsoft Office (KB3194063) - Important

This security update resolves a vulnerability in Microsoft Office. An Office RTF remote code execution vulnerability exists in Microsoft Office software when the Office software fails to properly handle RTF files. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerabilities could run arbitrary code in the context of the current user.

The update addresses the vulnerability by changing the way Microsoft Office software handles RTF content.

MS16-122 Security Update for Microsoft Video Control (KB3195360) - Critical

This security update resolves a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if Microsoft Video Control fails to properly handle objects in memory. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could run arbitrary code in the context of the current user. However, an attacker must first convince a user to open either a specially crafted file or a program from either a webpage or an email message.

This security update is rated Critical on the following client operating systems: Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, and Windows 10. For more information, see the Affected Software section.

The update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how Microsoft Video Control handles objects in memory.

MS16-123 Security Update for Windows Kernel-Mode Drivers (KB3192892) - Important

This security update resolves vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows. The more severe of the vulnerabilities could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker logs on to an affected system and runs a specially crafted application that could exploit the vulnerabilities and take control of an affected system.

This security update is rated Important for all supported releases of Windows. For more information, see theAffected Software section.

The security update addresses the vulnerabilities by correcting how the Windows kernel-mode driver handles objects in memory.

MS16-124 Security Update for Windows Registry (KB3193227) - Important

This security update resolves vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerabilities could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker can access sensitive registry information.

This security update is rated Important for all supported releases of Microsoft Windows. For more information, see the Affected Software and Vulnerability Severity Ratings section.

The security update addresses the vulnerabilities by correcting how the kernel API restricts access to this information.

MS16-125 Security Update for Diagnostics Hub (KB3193229) - Important

This security update resolves a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerability could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker logs on to an affected system and runs a specially crafted application.

This security update is rated Important for all supported editions of Windows 10. For more information, see the Affected Software and Vulnerability Severity Ratings section.

The security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how the Windows Diagnostics Hub Standard Collector Service sanitizes input, to help preclude unintended elevated system privileges. 

MS16-126 Security Update for Microsoft Internet Messaging API (KB3196067) - Moderate

This security update resolves a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. An information disclosure vulnerability exists when the Microsoft Internet Messaging API improperly handles objects in memory. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could test for the presence of files on disk.

The security update affects Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7 and Windows Sever 2008 R2 and is rated moderate on client and low on server operating systems. Note that you must install two updates to be protected from the vulnerability discussed in this bulletin: The update in this bulletin, and the update in MS16-118. See Update FAQ section below for more information.

The update addresses the vulnerability by changing the way the Microsoft Internet Messaging API handles objects in memory.

MS16-127 Security Update for Adobe Flash Player (KB3194343) - Critical 

This security update resolves vulnerabilities in Adobe Flash Player when installed on all supported editions of Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows RT 8.1, and Windows 10.

This security update is rated Critical. The update addresses the vulnerabilities in Adobe Flash Player by updating the affected Adobe Flash libraries contained within Internet Explorer 10, Internet Explorer 11, and Microsoft Edge.

Get updating!