In its monthly security update, Microsoft is to release four patches later today, the company has announced.
Only one of the patches has been labeled "critical", the highest security rating for a Microsoft patch. Three other patches have been deemed "important" by Microsoft. One of these is designed to remedy a privilege escalation bug for Unix applications.
The other two patches are for Visual Studio and MSN Messenger, to fix weaknesses that could possibly allow remote code execution. Microsoft has not been specific about what the fourth, critical patch pertains to, though it is a part of Windows 2000 SP 4. Neither Windows or Vista are affected however, Microsoft has claimed. The company was to have released five patches today, but will now only release four.
Eric Schultze, a security architect at Shavlik, told SCMagazineUS.com: "[The revision] means it hasn't passed their testing. There is a beta patch test group that will do all of the testing of the security patches about five weeks before they're to be released." September's release will contain the fewest patches of those in the last several months.
