The company said it will release six security patches on 13 November, two of which are for Windows RT, a variation of the Windows 8 operating system that features on its newly released Surface tablet.
Microsoft’s advance notification, which was posted on Wednesday, also revealed patches for three “critical” security vulnerabilities for Windows 8, which was launched just weeks ago, on October 26.
A critical security update, which is the highest ranking in its four-step severity system, is defined by Microsoft as “a vulnerability whose exploitation could allow code execution without user interaction”.
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According to Microsoft, such scenarios include “self-propagating malware (e.g. network worms), or unavoidable common use scenarios where code execution occurs without warnings or prompts, which could mean browsing to a web page or opening email”.
The software giant routinely issues updates on a day known as “Patch Tuesday” on the second week of every month.
The Redmond, Washington-based company’s advance notification posting lined up a total of 19 patches for various supported versions of Windows, from Windows XP to Windows 8, as well as various versions of Windows Server, Microsoft Excel and Internet Explorer 9.
Additionally, Microsoft is to release a patch addressing a security flaw in Microsoft Office 2003, 2007 and 2010 for the PC, and Office 2008 and 2011 for the Mac, which has been categorised as having an ‘important’ risk level.
The latest version of Internet Explorer 10, which is exclusive to Windows 8 and RT machines, has not been listed by Microsoft as containing vulnerabilities.
