Look out for an important software update from Microsoft this Tuesday (September 9th).
This time it's to patch 20 potential security weak points in Office, SharePoint Server, SQL Server, Windows and other parts of its product lineup. It is recommended that the updates are installed as soon as possible.
The one update rated 'critical' – the software company's highest threat ranking – will take care of vulnerabilities in all supported versions of Office on Windows. The other six updates are 'important,' the next rating down in its four-step scoring system.
New XML-based file formats were introduced in Office 2007 to replace older, proprietary binary formats, and experts are speculating that the vulnerabilities being addressed are in the file formats
used by Office 2007 and Office 2010 on Windows – for example in how Word opens or parses files.
A critical rating is unusual for Office vulnerabilities and typically indicates that no user interaction, such as opening an affected file, is required to trigger the vulnerability.
