That's right folks, today is Patch Tuesday and Microsoft has published its monthly security bulletin for August 2013. The bulletins address a total of 23 vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Exchange. These vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code, cause a denial of service condition, or gain elevated privileges.

The bulk of the August updates correct several vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer. Although little technical information is available currently, it's likely that attackers may develop future exploits based on the vulnerabilities.

Multiple vulnerabilities correct vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows. A few of the vulnerabilities involve improper processing of ICMP network packets and could allow for attacks that cause affected systems to stop responding to additional network traffic. Although service failures are a concern for production systems, an exploit would allow no system access.

Still other Microsoft Windows vulnerabilities could allow local users to gain additional privileges. Systems such as shared hosts or Terminal Servers may be at greater risk. Because users must have local system access to exploit the vulnerability, there is less potential for exploitation.

This month's Cisco Event Response Page documents all available content for this Microsoft release and is available on the Cisco Security Intelligence Operations Portal.

If you'd liked to hear my esteemed colleague, Walter Sulym, discuss this month's bulletin summary, have a listen to his VoD here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNoBbaFNCe0

Do reach out to us with any questions or comments about this month's Patch Tuesday.