Microsoft to fix 23 vulnerabilities in May 2012 Patch Tuesday

Microsoft plans to issue seven bulletins, three critical, repairing 23 flaws in Windows, Office and its .Net Framework.

The software giant issued its May 2012 Patch Tuesday Advance Notification today. It includes three critical bulletins addressing flaws in Office 2003 and 2007, the .Net Framework, Microsoft Silverlight and Microsoft Windows. The patches address issues that can be remotely exploitable and may require a restart. The updates affect all versions of Windows.

Two bulletins rated “important” address Windows flaws, fixing errors that could be used by an attacker to elevate privileges. The Windows updates require a restart, Microsoft said. Two other bulletins, also rated “important,” address remote code execution flaws in Excel and Visio viewer for Office.

The bulletins will be released May 8 at 1 p.m. ET.