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Microsoft right this moment launched updates to repair greater than 100 safety flaws in its Windows working programs and different software program. At least 13 of the bugs acquired Microsoft’s most-dire “critical” ranking, that means they may very well be abused by malware or malcontents to achieve distant entry to a Windows system with little or no assist from customers.
August’s patch batch from Redmond consists of an replace for CVE-2025-53786, a vulnerability that permits an attacker to pivot from a compromised Microsoft Exchange Server instantly into a corporation’s cloud surroundings, doubtlessly gaining management over Exchange Online and different linked Microsoft Office 365 providers. Microsoft first warned about this bug on Aug. 6, saying it impacts Exchange Server 2016 and Exchange Server 2019, in addition to its flagship Exchange Server Subscription Edition.
Ben McCarthy, lead cyber safety engineer at Immersive, mentioned a tough search reveals roughly 29,000 Exchange servers publicly dealing with on the web which might be susceptible to this challenge, with a lot of them more likely to have even older vulnerabilities.
McCarthy mentioned the repair for CVE-2025-53786 requires extra than simply putting in a patch, similar to following Microsoft’s handbook directions for making a devoted service to supervise and lock down the hybrid connection.
“In effect, this vulnerability turns a significant on-premise Exchange breach into a full-blown, difficult-to-detect cloud compromise with effectively living off the land techniques which are always harder to detect for defensive teams,” McCarthy mentioned.
CVE-2025-53779 is a weak point within the Windows Kerberos authentication system that permits an unauthenticated attacker to achieve area administrator privileges. Microsoft credit the invention of the flaw to Akamai researcher Yuval Gordon, who dubbed it “BadSuccessor” in a May 2025 weblog publish. The assault exploits a weak point in “delegated Managed Service Account” or dMSA — a function that was launched in Windows Server 2025.
Some of the important flaws addressed this month with the very best severity (between 9.0 and 9.9 CVSS scores) embrace a distant code execution bug within the Windows GDI+ part that handles graphics rendering (CVE-2025-53766) and CVE-2025-50165, one other graphics rendering weak point. Another important patch entails CVE-2025-53733, a vulnerability in Microsoft Word that may be exploited with out consumer interplay and triggered by way of the Preview Pane.
One closing important bug tackled this month deserves consideration: CVE-2025-53778, a bug in Windows NTLM, a core operate of how Windows programs deal with community authentication. According to Microsoft, the flaw may enable an attacker with low-level community entry and fundamental consumer privileges to use NTLM and elevate to SYSTEM-level entry — the very best stage of privilege in Windows. Microsoft charges the exploitation of this bug as “more likely,” though there isn’t a proof the vulnerability is being exploited in the mean time.
Feel free to holler within the feedback for those who expertise issues putting in any of those updates. As ever, the SANS Internet Storm Center has its helpful breakdown of the Microsoft patches listed by severity and CVSS rating, and AskWoody.com is preserving a watch out for Windows patches which will trigger issues for enterprises and finish customers.
GOOD MIGRATIONS
Windows 10 customers on the market seemingly have observed by now that Microsoft actually desires you to improve to Windows 11. The cause is that after the Patch Tuesday on October 14, 2025, Microsoft will cease delivery free safety updates for Windows 10 computer systems. The bother is, many PCs working Windows 10 don’t meet the {hardware} specs required to put in Windows 11 (or they do, however simply barely).
If the expertise with Windows XP is any indicator, many of those older computer systems will wind up in landfills or else can be left working in an unpatched state. But in case your Windows 10 PC doesn’t have the {hardware} chops to run Windows 11 and also you’d nonetheless prefer to get some use out of it safely, take into account putting in a newbie-friendly model of Linux, like Linux Mint.
Like most fashionable Linux variations, Mint will run on something with a 64-bit CPU that has at the least 2GB of reminiscence, though 4GB is really useful. In different phrases, it’s going to run on virtually any pc produced within the final decade.
There are many variations of Linux accessible, however Linux Mint is more likely to be essentially the most intuitive interface for normal Windows customers, and it’s largely configurable with none fuss on the text-only command-line immediate. Mint and different flavors of Linux include LibreOffice, which is an open supply suite of instruments that features functions just like Microsoft Office, and it could actually open, edit and save paperwork as Microsoft Office information.
If you’d choose to provide Linux a check drive earlier than putting in it on a Windows PC, you possibly can all the time simply obtain it to a detachable USB drive. From there, reboot the pc (with the detachable drive plugged in) and choose the choice at startup to run the working system from the exterior USB drive. If you don’t see an choice for that after restarting, strive restarting once more and hitting the F8 button, which ought to open a listing of bootable drives. Here’s a reasonably thorough tutorial that walks by way of precisely tips on how to do all this.
And if that is your first time attempting out Linux, calm down and have enjoyable: The good factor a few “live” model of Linux (because it’s known as when the working system is run from a detachable drive similar to a CD or a USB stick) is that none of your adjustments persist after a reboot. Even for those who someway handle to interrupt one thing, a restart will return the system again to its authentic state.