Breaking Down the Latest March 2023 Patch Tuesday Report

The March 2023 Patch Tuesday report is out, and it’s packed with important security updates. Microsoft released 80 fixes, 9 of which are rated as critical. This month’s Patch Tuesday is important for IT professionals and system administrators, as it includes two zero-day vulnerabilities and 83 flaws that need to be addressed.

These vulnerabilities could potentially allow attackers to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information, execute malicious code, or cause a denial-of-service condition. It is recommended that users apply these updates as soon as possible to avoid potential exploitation.

In this blog post, we’ll discuss the latest March 2023 Patch Tuesday report from Microsoft and the most important updates. We’ll also provide some tips on how to make sure your systems are up-to-date with the latest security patches.

So let’s dive in and take a closer look at what this month’s Patch Tuesday has to offer!

Microsoft Patch Tuesday March 2023 Report Summary:

Microsoft released the March 2023 Patch Tuesday on 14th March. Let’s see the summary of the report:

Vulnerabilities by Category:

Here’s a table showing the number of bugs in each vulnerability category:

The table provides information about the number of bugs in different categories of vulnerabilities. It shows that there are 21 Elevation of Privilege vulnerabilities, 2 Security Feature Bypass vulnerabilities, 27 Remote Code Execution vulnerabilities, 15 Information Disclosure vulnerabilities, 4 Denial of Service vulnerabilities, 10 Spoofing vulnerabilities, and 1 Edge-Chromium vulnerability.

List of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities Patched in March 2023 Patch Tuesday:

The term “zero-day” refers to the fact that developers have zero days to fix the issue before attackers can take advantage of it. These are considered the most dangerous since they are set to exploit before patches are released. Microsoft announced that it had fixed two zero-day vulnerabilities being exploited in the wild.

Microsoft Outlook Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability – CVE-2023-23397

If you are a Microsoft Outlook user, you need to be aware of a newly discovered vulnerability that can compromise your system. CVE-2023-23397 is an elevation of privilege vulnerability that allows attackers to access a user’s Net-NTLMv2 hash, which can be used to carry out an NTLM Relay attack against another service to authenticate as the user.

This vulnerability can be exploited by a low-complexity attack through specially crafted emails sent by attackers to connect the victim to an external attacker’s control UNC location. The email will be triggered automatically when retrieved and processed by the Outlook client, allowing the attacker to access the Net-NTLMv2 hash before the email is even viewed in the Preview Pane.

The consequences of this vulnerability can be severe, as it allows attackers to authenticate as the user and gain access to sensitive information. This can be a severe threat to individuals and organizations that use Outlook for their daily operations. Active exploitation of this vulnerability has been detected, and it is crucial to take immediate action to prevent any further damage.

Windows SmartScreen Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability – CVE-2023-24880

Another critical vulnerability that has been recently discovered is CVE-2023-24880, a Windows SmartScreen Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability. Microsoft has confirmed that this vulnerability is being actively exploited in the wild, and it is essential to take immediate action to prevent any further damage.