November Patch Tuesday To Come with 6 Fixes

Microsoft's most recent Security Bulletin Advance Notification indicates that the company will release six patches during its regular Patch Tuesday cycle, which happens Nov. 14. All of the patches have been tagged as "critical," with one affecting Microsoft XML Core Services and the others affecting Windows.

It's unknown whether the XML patch will fix a flaw for a zero-day exploit that was reported by security firm Secunia, Inc. in a bulletin issued Nov. 2. That vulnerability specifically targets the XMLHTTP 4.0 ActiveX Control. According to a security advisory, Microsoft is aware of hackers already carrying out exploits; the company doesn't say whether a fix will be part of the Patch Tuesday fixes or an out-of-cycle patch.

Microsoft also updated an advisory, originally issued on Oct. 31, regarding a WMI Object Broker control flaw that affects developers building projects with Visual Studio 2005. There's no indication on the Advanced Notification whether a fix for this will be included in the forthcoming patches.

Five other flaws affect Windows in general; no specific details were provided for them. The bulletin also specifies that the security roll-up will include updates to Microsoft Update, Windows Update and Software Update Services, Windows Server Update Services and its Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool.