August 2023 Security Update Analysis: Security Vulnerabilities Rectified in Microsoft and Adobe Products
In the latest Patch Tuesday Edition for August 2023, Microsoft has addressed a total of 89 vulnerabilities, with six of them rated as Critical. Among these critical vulnerabilities, three are Microsoft Message Queuing Remote Code Execution Vulnerabilities (CVE-2023-35385, CVE-2023-36910, and CVE-2023-36911) that have a CVSS:3.1 score of 9.8.
One of the critical vulnerabilities addressed is CVE-2023-36895, a Remote Code Execution Vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook. Another notable vulnerability is CVE-2023-21709, an Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in Microsoft Exchange Server with a CVSS:3.1 score of 9.8.
The August 2023 release notes cover a wide range of Microsoft product families and products/versions affected, including but not limited to, the Memory Integrity System Readiness Scan Tool, Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Teams, Windows Reliability Analysis Metrics Calculation Engine, Windows Fax and Scan Service, Windows HTML Platform, Windows Bluetooth A2DP driver, Microsoft Dynamics, Azure HDInsights, Reliability Analysis Metrics Calculation Engine, Microsoft WDAC OLE DB provider for SQL, Windows Group Policy, Tablet Windows User Interface, ASP.NET, Windows Common Log File System Driver, Windows System Assessment Tool, Windows Cloud Files Mini Filter Driver, Windows Wireless Wide Area Network Service, Windows Cryptographic Services, Windows Hyper-V, Windows Smart Card, Dynamics Business Central Control, and Windows Defender.
Microsoft has also included two Defense in Depth Updates for Microsoft Office (ADV230003) and Memory Integrity System Readiness Scan Tool (ADV230004) in this edition.
In addition to Microsoft's updates, Adobe has released four security advisories in the August 2023 updates, addressing 37 vulnerabilities in Adobe Acrobat and Reader, Adobe Commerce, Adobe Dimension, and Adobe XMP Toolkit SDK. Nineteen of these vulnerabilities are rated as critical.
Qualys Policy Compliance has updated its Control IDs and System Defined Controls to support Microsoft's recommended mitigation for the August 2023 Patch Tuesday. Qualys VMDR automatically detects new Patch Tuesday vulnerabilities using continuous updates to its Knowledgebase (KB).
Qualys Custom Assessment and Remediation (CAR) can be used to execute mitigation steps provided by MSRC on vulnerable assets. The following QQL query can be used to see all your impacted hosts by the vulnerabilities addressed in the August 2023 Patch Tuesday: "vulnerability.id in (
The Qualys Research team hosts a monthly webinar series to help customers leverage Qualys Vulnerability Management Detection Response (VMDR) and Qualys Patch Management for addressing high-impact vulnerabilities. It is recommended to subscribe to the 'This Month in Vulnerabilities and Patches' webinar.
Notably, Microsoft has addressed two zero-day vulnerabilities known to be publicly exploited in the August 2023 Patch Tuesday edition. CVE-2023-35380, CVE-2023-35382, and CVE-2023-35386 are elevation of privilege vulnerabilities in the Windows Kernel. CVE-2023-36884 is a Windows Search Remote Code Execution Vulnerability, and Microsoft has released an additional Defense in Depth Update (ADV230003) to stop the attack chain used in the exploitation of the vulnerability.
Sixty-eight of the 89 vulnerabilities addressed in the August 2023 Patch Tuesday Edition are rated as Important. VMDR rapidly remediates Windows hosts by deploying the most relevant and applicable per-technology version patches. You can simply select respective QIDs in the Patch Catalog and filter on the "Missing" patches to identify and deploy the applicable, available patches with one click.
Lastly, Microsoft has fixed several flaws in multiple software, including Denial of Service (DoS), Elevation of Privilege (EoP), Information Disclosure, Remote Code Execution (RCE), Security Feature Bypass, and Spoofing. CVE-2023-35359 is an elevation of privilege vulnerability that may allow an attacker to gain SYSTEM privileges. CVE-2023-38180 is a .NET and Visual Studio Denial of Service Vulnerability and has been added to the CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog. CVE-2023-35388 and CVE-2023-38182 are remote code execution vulnerabilities affecting Microsoft Exchange Server.
It is crucial to apply these updates as soon as possible to protect your systems from potential threats.
