Microsoft's September security update is likely to cause some
disruption in businesses with five critical patches for core
Windows operating systems.
All the updates to be released on Patch Tuesday next week are
critical, but two will require mandatory restarts.
Both server and desktop management IT groups will be impacted by
the updates, according to IT services firm, Lumension.
Four of the critical vulnerabilities affect Windows Vista and
three affect Windows Server 2008.
Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 will also
receive updates on Tuesday.
Microsoft's
advance bulletin gives no indication whether it will issue an
update for the recently revealed vulnerability in its
Internet Information Services(IIS) software.
Microsoft has said that it will issue a patch as soon as it is
available, but analysts have said an update for IIS 5 and 6 is
unlikely to be ready by Tuesday next week.
The fact that four of the updates affect Vista could have
implications for the coming Windows 7 operating system because of
the significant amount of shared code, said Andrew Clarke, senior
VP at Lumension.
"Some of these security bulletins could apply to Windows 7 or
Server 2008 R2, but this is not addressed in the information in
Microsoft's advance bulletin," he said.
Other commentators have criticised Microsoft for the vagueness
of the September advance bulletin that provides little information
about what to expect.
Companies with access to the RTM builds should track the
bulletins in the future to see if they are updated to apply to
Windows 7 and Windows Release 2, said Clarke.