Microsoft slates first Windows 8, RT patches since launch

Microsoft today announced it will issue six security updates next week, including three for Windows 8 and its tablet spin-off Windows RT.

The half-dozen updates will patch 19 vulnerabilities in Windows, Internet Explorer (IE) and the .Net framework.

The four critical updates -- the highest threat ranking in Microsoft's four-step system -- will patch 13 bugs, including an unknown number in Windows Server 2012, Windows 8 and Windows RT, the operating system that powers Microsoft's own Surface RT tablet, according to the advance warning Microsoft published Thursday.

The Windows 8 and Windows RT security updates will be the first shipped since those operating systems' launch on Oct. 26. While Microsoft had previously issued patches for the new OSes, all but a September "out-of-band" fix for IE tackled problems in its unfinished previews, not the final code.

But Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Security, downplayed the patches for Windows 8 and Windows RT.

"I'd be more worried if they didn't patch them right off the bat," said Storms. "They've had them in development so long, someone should have found a bug by now. And it shouldn't be surprising.... We all know that everything has bugs, even the newest software."

:story: Computerworld