Microsoft January, 2018 Security Update

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The January security release consists of 56 CVEs, 16 are listed as Critical and 38 are rated Important, 1 is rated Moderate and 1 is rated as Low in severity. The updates address Remote Code Execution, Tampering, Security Feature B y p a s s , Information Disclosure and Denial of Service. The release consists of security updates for the following software:

• Internet Explorer
• Microsoft Edge
• Microsoft Windows
• Microsoft Office and Microsoft Office Services and Web Apps
• SQL Server
• ChakraCore
• .NET Framework
• .NET Core
• ASP.NET Core
• Adobe Flash

Important: Because the out-of-band security update for "Meltdown"/"Spectre" requires the setting of a registry key and not all antivirus software has been updated to include the key, Microsoft updated Important: January 3, 2018, Windows security updates and antivirus software to include the following Note:

Note: Customers will not receive the January 2018 security updates (or any subsequent security updates) and will not be protected from security vulnerabilities unless their antivirus software vendor sets the following registry key: [/INDENT]

Key="HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" Subkey="SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\QualityCompat" Value="cadca5fe-87d3-4b96-b7fb-a231484277cc" Type="REG_DWORD”
Data="0x00000000” [bold added]​

If your computer has not received the security update, check the status at CVE-2017-5753, CVE-2017-5715, and CVE-2017-5754 (Meltdown and Spectre) Windows antivirus patch compatibility. In the event both "Sets registry key" and "Supported" are not both indicated with the letter "Y", Bleeping Computer has created a .reg file that can be used to create the registry. However, it should only be used if your antivirus vendor has indicated that a manual install is needed. For in-depth information, see the Bleeping Computer articles Microsoft Says No More Windows Security Updates Unless AVs Set a Registry Key and How to Check and Update Windows Systems for the Meltdown and Spectre CPU Flaws.

Further note that some AMD devices are getting into an unbootable state after installing the "Meltdown"/"Spectre" security update. As a result, Microsoft is temporarily pausing sending updates to devices with impacted AMD processors at this time. Further information is available at Windows Meltdown and Spectre patches: Now Microsoft blocks security updates for some AMD based PCs.

More: For more information about the updates released today, see https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-us/security-guidance/summary. Updates can be sorted by OS from the search box. Information about the update for Windows 10 is available at Windows 10 Update history.

Also see this month's Zero Day Initiative — The January 2018 Security Update Review by Dustin Childs in which he discusses several of the patches and lincludes a breakdown of the CVE's addressed in the update. ​

 

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Please Note: If your system received the out-of-band January 3, 2018, security update, most likely, only the Flash Player and MSRT updates were installed yesterday for Windows 10. To confirm that your system is up to date, go to Windows 10 update history.

• Select the Windows 10 version you are at. For example, the Fall Creators Update is Windows 10 Version 1709 and the Creators Update is Version 1703.
• The current Build for Windows 10 Version 1709 is OS Build 16299.192, with KB4056892, dated January 3, 2018, installed.
• The current Build for Windows 10 Version 1703 is OS Build 15063.850, with KB4056891, dated January 3, 2018, installed.
• To check your version go to Settings > System > About and scroll down to "Windows Specifications".
• The OS Build under Windows Specifications will match the Windows 10 Version.

With regard to the Microsoft Office updates, the January, 2018 Office updates are listed here. For Microsoft Office updates see How to: Install Microsoft Office Updates.