Windows Updates News

[xhartom]

Microsoft has released a new batch of cumulative updates for Windows 10, but this time the purpose isn’t to bring improvements to the operating system but to resolve an Internet Explorer flaw.

 

Windows 10 version 1809 (October 2018 Update) devices are provided with cumulative update KB4483235, while Windows 10 version 1803 (April 2018 Update) gets KB4483234. Users still running Windows 10 version 1709 (Fall Creators Update) can download cumulative update KB4483232.

 

The new updates increase the OS build number as it follows:

 

Windows 10 version 1809 - KB4483235 (OS Build 17763.195)

Windows 10 version 1803 - KB4483234 (OS Build 17134.472)

Windows 10 version 1709 - KB4483232 (OS Build 16299.847)

Windows 10 version 1703 - KB4483230 (OS Build 15063.1508)

Windows 10 version 1607 - KB4483229 (OS Build 14393.2670)

Windows 10 version 1507 - KB4483228 (OS Build 10240.18064)

 

You can check out the OS build number on your system by clicking the Start menu and typing winver.

 

No delta updates this time

 

What’s very important to know is that this time, Microsoft isn’t offering any delta updates, so you have to download the full package for each Windows 10 version. The company explains the following:

“A Delta package for this update will not be available. Customers using Delta package updates need to apply the Full Update. Customers who do not apply the Full update, and only the December Delta package update from December 11, 2018 will experience an update failure when installing the January Delta Update. The January Full update will install correctly.”

There are no new known issues in these updates, as all of them inherit the bugs from their predecessors. There are no acknowledged bugs with the update aimed at Windows 10 version 1809.

You can download the updates from Windows Update, and Microsoft recommends you to do it as soon as possible given that it resolves a security bug in Internet Explorer.

[Matrix]

In brief: Do people still use Internet Explorer? Yes, apparently, which is why Microsoft has just released an emergency standalone security update for the browser. It comes after a vulnerability was discovered that’s already being actively exploited.

Microsoft writes that it released the security update after Google informed the company of the exploit being used in targeted attacks. The vulnerability (ID CVE-2018-8653) affects Internet Explorer 11 from Windows 7 to Windows 10 as well as Windows Server 2012, 2016 and 2019; IE 9 on Windows Server 2008; and IE 10 on Windows Server 2012.

"A remote code execution vulnerability exists in the way that the scripting engine handles objects in memory in Internet Explorer,” Microsoft explained in the support document. “The vulnerability could corrupt memory in such a way that an attacker could execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user.”

The firm adds that if someone is logged on with administrative user rights, “an attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the current user.”

The vulnerability could be utilized in several ways, such as someone visiting a hacked or specially crafted website. Once exploited, an attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. As is so often the case with these types of attacks, many potential victims receive emails containing links to the malicious sites.

According to NetMarketShare, Internet Explorer is the world’s second most popular browser for desktops/laptops, though with Chrome taking 63.6 percent, IE still only has an 11.19 percent share—most of which comes from business users

 

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