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Microsoft has unveiled updates today designed to address over 100 security vulnerabilities in its Windows operating systems and additional software. At least 13 of these vulnerabilities have been designated with Microsoft’s most severe “critical” classification, indicating they could be exploited by malware or malicious actors to achieve remote access to a Windows system with minimal or no user intervention.
The August update batch from Redmond features a fix for CVE-2025-53786, a security hole that facilitates an attacker in moving from a compromised Microsoft Exchange Server straight into an organization’s cloud infrastructure, potentially allowing control over Exchange Online and other interlinked Microsoft Office 365 services. Microsoft first alerted users to this issue on Aug. 6, noting that it affects Exchange Server 2016 and Exchange Server 2019, along with its key Exchange Server Subscription Edition.
Ben McCarthy, principal cyber security engineer at Immersive, mentioned that an informal search indicates there are roughly 29,000 Exchange servers publicly accessible on the internet that are at risk from this vulnerability, many of which likely harbor even older security flaws.
According to McCarthy, addressing CVE-2025-53786 entails more than merely applying a patch; it also involves adhering to Microsoft’s manual guidelines for establishing a specific service to monitor and secure the hybrid connection.
“Essentially, this vulnerability turns a substantial on-premise Exchange breach into a comprehensive, challenging-to-detect cloud infiltration using techniques that are consistently more difficult for defensive teams to identify,” McCarthy stated.
CVE-2025-53779 is a defect in the Windows Kerberos authentication mechanism that permits an unauthenticated attacker to acquire domain administrator rights. Microsoft attributes the discovery of this flaw to Akamai researcher Yuval Gordon, who named it “BadSuccessor” in a May 2025 blog entry. This attack exploits a vulnerability in the “delegated Managed Service Account” or dMSA — a feature introduced in Windows Server 2025.
Among the critical vulnerabilities resolved this month with the most severe ratings (between 9.0 and 9.9 on the CVSS scale) is a remote code execution flaw in the Windows GDI+ component responsible for graphics rendering (CVE-2025-53766) and CVE-2025-50165, another weakness in graphics rendering. Additionally, another critical patch concerns CVE-2025-53733, a vulnerability in Microsoft Word that can be exploited without any user action and triggered through the Preview Pane.
One more critical issue addressed this month warrants attention: CVE-2025-53778, a flaw in Windows NTLM, a fundamental aspect of how Windows systems manage network authentication. As per Microsoft, this flaw could permit an attacker with low-level network access and basic user privileges to exploit NTLM and escalate to SYSTEM-level access — the highest privilege tier in Windows. Microsoft assesses the likelihood of exploitation of this flaw as “more probable,” although there is currently no evidence that the vulnerability is being actively exploited.
Please don’t hesitate to voice any issues you encounter while installing these updates in the comments. As always, the SANS Internet Storm Center has a valuable summary of the Microsoft patches categorized by severity and CVSS score, and AskWoody.com is monitoring any potential Windows patches that could pose issues for businesses and end-users.
GOOD MIGRATIONS
Users of Windows 10 have likely recognized by now that Microsoft is eager for you to transition to Windows 11. After the Patch Tuesday on October 14, 2025, Microsoft will cease providing free security updates for Windows 10 machines. The catch is, many PCs operating on Windows 10 fail to meet the hardware requirements needed to install Windows 11 (or they may meet these specifications only marginally).
If the experience with Windows XP is any lesson, many of these older systems may end up in landfills or will continue to operate in an unpatched condition. However, if your Windows 10 PC doesn’t possess the hardware capability for Windows 11 and you wish to continue utilizing it safely, consider trying a user-friendly edition of Linux, like Linux Mint.
Similar to most contemporary Linux distributions, Mint can operate on any device with a 64-bit CPU that has a minimum of 2GB of RAM, although 4GB is recommended. Simply put, it will function on nearly any computer manufactured in the past decade.
There are numerous Linux distributions available, but Linux Mint is likely to provide the most familiar interface for typical Windows users, and it is largely customizable without any hassle at the command-line prompt. Mint and its variants come equipped with LibreOffice, an open-source suite similar to Microsoft Office, allowing you to open, edit, and save documents in Microsoft Office formats.
If you’d like to experiment with Linux before installing it on a Windows PC, you can always download it to a removable USB drive. Then, reboot your computer (with the USB drive plugged in) and select the option at startup to boot from the external USB drive. If you don’t see that option upon restarting, try rebooting again and pressing the F8 key, which should display a list of bootable devices. Here’s a detailed tutorial that walks you through the whole process.
If this is your initial experience with Linux, just relax and enjoy: The great thing about a “live” version of Linux (this is what it’s called when the operating system operates from a removable drive like a CD or USB stick) is that none of your modifications will persist after a reboot. Even if you manage to encounter issues, a simple restart will revert the system to its original state.
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