Microsoft's Patch Tuesday for March Contains Just One Critical Fix

Microsoft is planning to keep things relatively low-key on March 13th, otherwise known as Patch Tuesday, which will contain only six security bulletins. Only one of those is deemed Critical; the other five consist of four that are labeled Important and one that is rated Moderate.

The critical fix applies to all versions of Windows since XP and plugs up a security hole that could allow an attacker to gain control of an infected system remotely.


"Organizations will have to reboot after applying the critical patch, which indicates that it is fix for a kernel level bug," said Marcus Carey, a security researcher at Rapid7. "There are two important bulletins that effect the Windows family as well."

This roundup of half a dozen security bulletins brings the total to 22 for the year, compared to 17 that were issued through March 2011. And while this is a relatively light month in terms of Patch Tuesday updates, it contains twice as many security bulletins as last year.