Microsoft Patch Alert: Where we stand with September’s Windows and Office patches

[Karlston]

It’s been a rocky month, with buggy security patches and patches-of-patches that never should’ve seen light of day. Is this the new normal?

 

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Microsoft’s foray into quantum computing sure sounds neat, but those of us stuck with real programs on real computers have been in something of a quandary. Once again this month, we’ve hit a bunch of stumbling blocks, many of which were pushed down the Automatic Update chute.

 

Before we dissect the creepy-crawlies this month, it’s important to remember that you have to get the .Net patches installed, unless you fastidiously refrain from clicking the “Enable Editing” button in Word.

Windows 10

After telling us that Windows 10 Creators Update, version 1703, is “the most performant and reliable version of Windows 10 ever!” you might expect some stability with version 1703 patches. This month, that didn’t happen. After releasing cumulative update KB 4038788 on Patch Tuesday, we got a new out-of-band fix for bugs introduced by that same update. The new cumulative update, KB 4040724, appeared in Windows Update on Monday, Sept. 25. It brings 1703 up to build 15063.632. So far, I haven’t heard of any problems with the new cumulative update — but it’s been less than a day.

 

The situation with Win10 Anniversary Update, version 1607, isn’t as straightforward. Apparently, there were a host of problems that appeared after this month’s Patch Tuesday cumulative update, KB 4038782. It isn’t clear if that update introduced bugs of its own, but the situation’s bad enough that we got a second cumulative update this month, again on Monday. KB 4038801 brings Win10 version 1607 to build 14393.1736. It’s a hotfix; it isn’t distributed via Automatic Update. You have to download KB 4038801 and install it manually. I haven’t seen a detailed analysis of the security holes fixed by this odd Monday patch – but to date I haven’t seen any complaints, either. The day is still young.

 

For reasons as yet unexplained, KB 4038801 is only for Win10 1607; it’s explicitly not released for Server 2016.

 

There’s a note on the 1607 patch site that says:

Windows Update Client Improvement

Microsoft will release an update directly to the Windows Update Client to improve Windows Update reliability. It will only be offered to devices that have not installed any recent cumulative updates and are not currently managed (e.g., domain joined).

 

As noted by @abbodi86 on AskWoody.com:

 

The note means [they] are going to release a separate “small” update for WUC, similar to this one for version 1507. They could also release the update directly as a SelfUpdate for WUC like they used to do with Windows prior [to] Windows 8 (for example, latest for Windows 7 is v7.6.7600.320 before they shifted to separate WUC updates starting with KB2990214).

Windows Server 2016

When you run the Get-PhysicalDisk cmdlet, some disks may display an operational status of "In Maintenance Mode." The Get-VirtualDisk cmdlet may also display the operational status of the virtual disk as "Degraded." There’s a manual workaround described in KB 4043361.

 

On Windows Server 2016, when you try to download updates by using Windows Update (stand-alone or WSUS), the process hangs at 0 percent completion. Microsoft has a description of the problem and two manual overrides in KB 4039473.

Windows 8.1

Everyone’s favorite whipping boy just took another lash. Many folks report that, after installing KB 4038792 — the September Monthly Rollup for Win 8.1 — they can no longer log on to their computers with a Microsoft account. I posted the details yesterday. Still no word from Microsoft – not even an acknowledgment of the problem on the KB article.

Windows 7

There’s a well-publicized problem with Internet Explorer 11 suddenly sprouting a search box on the address bar after installing KB 4038777 (the Windows 7 Monthly Rollup) or KB 4036586 (the September Internet Explorer Security-only patch). For a detailed look at what’s happening, with screenshots, see ElderN’s post on the Microsoft Answers forum.

 

Turns out up the flim-flammery is a result of font sizes changed behind the scenes and a possible undocumented switcheroo in one of the IE settings. See @PKCano’s post.

 

Poster Richard has also identified a problem with starting IE 11 after this month’s Windows 7 updates — and he found a solution. Again, it’s related to undocumented changes in the Tab View settings and in font size. See post 8 on the AskWoody Lounge.

Office

I’ve seen no change from the sorry state we were in a week ago: Microsoft pulled the September Outlook 2007 security patch KB 4011086 and replaced it with KB 4011110, but you have to manually uninstall the bad patch before you install the new one. Microsoft posted incorrect information about the uninstallation method. Both that patch and the Outlook 2010 patch, KB 4011089, have a nasty habit of changing languages in menus.

.Net

The .NET Security and Quality Rollups make certain custom images turn black. As Microsoft puts it: “After you install the September 12, 2017, .NET Security and Quality Rollups that apply to the .NET Framework 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, and 4.7, you experience rendering issues in Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) applications that use WPF types in a Windows service.”

 

There’s a description of the problem on the Visual Studio forum and a workaround in KB 4043601. The workaround suggests that you uninstall the Security and Quality Rollup and install the Security-only patch.

 

In addition, Microsoft has released a preview of next month’s .Net Framework patches.

Recommendations

Assuming you don’t click “Enable Editing” in Word, there are no immediately pressing September patches. I say it’s wise to wait and see if any of the outstanding bugs get fixed — and wait to see if the patches-of-patches generate new problems of their own.

 

Remember when patching was easy?

Patch issues: September 2017

September’s retinue of Microsoft patches includes one very important .NET fix that blocks a security hole brought to life when you open an RTF file in Word. So far, it's only been seen in the wild in a Russian-language RTF document, apparently generated by NEODYMIUM, allegedly used by a nation-state to snoop on a Russian-speaking target.

 

Several researchers have found ways to leverage the security hole, and it's only a matter of time before some enterprising folks come up with ways to turn it into a widespread infection vector. Bottom line: If you can't keep your finger off the "Enable Editing" button in Word, you better get this month's security patches installed.  

• The Win10 Creators Update cumulative update, KB 4038788, brings Win10 1703 up to build 15063.608. It contains 25 security patches as well as dozens of plain old bug fixes. I’m seeing a number of complaints about Edge misbehaving after the update: behind-the-scenes crashes showing in Event Viewer and Reliability Monitor, and occasional stops with an application error event id of 1000. So far, there aren’t enough reports to confirm that there’s a bona fide problem with Edge, but it’s a concern.
• The bug in Word and Outlook that I described earlier this week, Buggy Word 2016 non-security patch KB 4011039 can’t handle merged cells, is still around. That’s the same bug I wrote about a couple of weeks ago in Word, Outlook merged-cell problem arises after install of patch KB 3213656. Microsoft has (finally!) confirmed both of the bugs. The only solution offered:
• "You can uninstall both KBs and your tables will return to normal," Microsoft said. "We anticipate releasing the fix for this issue in the next monthly update, tentatively scheduled for October 3, 2017."
• Excel 2016’s security patch KB 4011050 can put spurious black borders around rows or cells. If you’re getting unexpected black borders, download and manually install KB 4011165. As best I can tell, that bug isn’t listed on the official Fixes or workarounds for recent issues in Excel for Windows site.
• Multiple language problems with the Outlook 2007 security patch KB 4011086. Reports of Hungarian switched to Swedish, Italian to Portuguese, Slovenian to Swedish, Italian to Spanish, Dutch to Swedish, and who-knows-what-else. The solution, offered by TechNet poster Sitz-AIR:
• 1) uninstall KB4011086. If you have two of them listed, uninstall both of them.

• 2) hide them

• 3) restart Windows

• 4) Outlook 2007 UI original correct language was restored.

 

A general reminder: If you have trouble installing Windows 10 updates, make sure you go through the list at Windows 10 install issues -- and what to do about them.

Patch issues: August 2017

One week after Patch Tuesday, and would-be Windows Updaters are facing a handful of bugs. Some will find them minor annoyances. Others … not so much. Here are the known bugs, and where we stand in the struggle to resolve the problems.

 

Worthy of note: Microsoft is now acknowledging many bugs that in the past would’ve gone without comment. There’s hope.

 

Here are the known, significant buggy security patches:

• Windows 10 Anniversary Update, version 1607 – Cumulative update KB 4034658 wipes out Update History, unhides hidden updates, and effectively disconnects some updated computers from WSUS. Microsoft has acknowledged all three of those bugs in the KB 4034658 article with the usual “Microsoft is investigating this issue and will provide an update as soon as possible.”
• The first undocumented buggy driver this month for the Surface Pro 4, “Surface - System - 7/21/2017 12:00:00 AM - 1.0.65.1,” was released on August 1. It was replaced by a second driver “Surface – System – 7/31/2007 12:00:00 AM - 1.0.75.1” on August 4. The second one was documented. But then we saw four more undocumented Surface Pro 4 drivers — “Intel driver update for Intel(r) Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework Generic Participant,” “Power Participant,” Processor Participant” and “Manager” — all released on Saturday, August 12. Sometime late on August 14, Microsoft posted information about two of the drivers.
• Both the Windows 7 August Monthly rollup KB 4034664 and the manually installed security-only patch KB 4034679 are causing problems with two-screen systems: The second screen starts showing gibberish with many applications, including Office. The problem has been widely reported — even replicated with a Proof of Concept program — but Microsoft hasn’t yet acknowledged it.
• The only bug reported by Microsoft in its August Windows 7 security patches is an old bug, continuing from July, in which a buggy LDAP plugs up TCP dynamic ports. That bug hasn’t been fixed.
• The Windows 8.1 Monthly rollup listing mentions a known bug: NPS authentication may break, and wireless clients may fail to connect. The solution is to manually set a registry entry on the server.

 

Dozens of patches were made to Office earlier this month but, so far, I’m not aware of any bugs.

 

Depending on which version of Windows you’re using, and how you’re using it, those bugs may be important or they may be annoyances.

 

I continue to recommend that you hold off on applying this month’s patches. I haven’t seen any malware outbreaks that are blocked by the August patches, and we may get some surprises — good, bad or indifferent — later today.

 

Have a question or a bug report? Drop by the AskWoody Lounge.

 

Source: Microsoft Patch Alert: Where we stand with September’s Windows and Office patches (Computerworld - Woody Leonhard)