Microsoft sets up six critical fixes for August security bulletin

Redmond (WA) - Microsoft has published its advance notification for this month’s regularly scheduled security update, labeling six patches as "critical".

All six critical bulletins deal with the vulnerability of remote code execution. Five of them are geared towards holes within the Windows operating system. Of these, one also affects XML Core Services, one affects Visual Basic and Office For Mac, and two deal with problems for Internet Explorer.

The sixth critical update patches a vulnerability in Microsoft Office.

Three of this month’s patches are deemed "important" by Microsoft. One fixes a remote code execution vulnerability in Windows, while another concerns the same problem for Windows Vista. The third important update deals with Virtual PC and Virtual Server and fixes a problem that could cause elevation of privilege.

Though not announced officially by Microsoft, it is speculated that two other patches to Windows Vista to fix optimization problems, which were released on Wednesday, will sneak into the Windows Update file alongside the security updates.

The security bulletin will be available on August 14 from Microsoft.com and through Windows Update.