All news with #microsoft tag

🎮 Microsoft says the August 2026 Windows update (KB5121003) has triggered game crashes, freezes, and EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION errors on systems running Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2. The company is investigating and attributes the problem to drivers or components installed by peripherals with RGB lighting that include files named like inpoutx64. Affected titles include ARC Raiders, MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, and The Finals. Developers such as Embark Studios offered a temporary workaround involving removal of the inpoutx64 driver while Microsoft continues its investigation.

📣 Microsoft is rolling out a Classic Outlook theme for Outlook on the web and New Outlook for Windows as part of a targeted release starting mid-August and completing by late September. The theme will become generally available worldwide between late September and late October. When enabled, it adjusts visual styling, layout, typography, icons, and selected interactions while respecting administrator settings and not migrating users automatically.

🔐 Microsoft patched a maximum-severity vulnerability in Entra ID that was exploited in attacks, tracked as CVE-2026-69836. Discovered by Microsoft engineer Robert Fitzpatrick, the flaw allowed unauthenticated actors to achieve code execution via deserialization of untrusted data. Microsoft states the issue is fully mitigated and no user action is required, and said exploit code is not publicly available. The company provided limited additional details on the incidents.

🎮 Microsoft is investigating reports that August 2026 updates may prevent some games from launching or cause crashes on affected Windows 11 systems. Affected users report freezes, unexpected closures, EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION errors, and random restarts after installing KB5121003. The company confirmed it is probing the issue and asked impacted gamers to submit Feedback Hub reports while it works to determine if Microsoft is the cause.

🔒 Microsoft has been named a visionary leader in Frost & Sullivan’s Frost Radar™: Cloud Workload Protection Platforms, 2026. The report highlights a market shift from isolated scanning to a unified runtime security model that connects code, cloud resources, identities, and SOC workflows. Frost & Sullivan cites Microsoft Defender for Cloud’s scale, deep runtime telemetry, and integration with Defender XDR, Sentinel, GitHub, and Copilot as key strengths. This positioning reflects Microsoft’s estimated >22% share of the global CWPP market and emphasizes runtime depth, container and Kubernetes security, and AI workload protection.

🛡️ Microsoft resolved a bug causing Windows Defender to crash with 0xc0000005 access violation errors after a recent signature update. Affected users on Windows 10 and Windows 11 reported scan failures and service stoppages that in some cases led to system reinstalls. Microsoft says the issue is fixed in Microsoft Defender Antivirus signature update version 1.457.236.0 or later and recommends applying updates or enabling automatic updates. Users should check Windows Update and their security intelligence version to ensure the fix is applied.

🔒 The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warns that threat actors are exploiting a critical remote code execution flaw in the Windows Internet Key Exchange (IKE) Service Extensions component, tracked as CVE-2026-33824. The vulnerability affects supported Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server versions and can be triggered by unauthenticated attackers sending crafted packets to UDP ports 500 or 4500. Microsoft issued a Patch Tuesday advisory and recommended firewall mitigations for organizations that cannot immediately apply updates.

🛡️ Microsoft warned that Windows 11 version 24H2 Home and Pro editions will stop receiving security and preview updates on October 13, 2026. Enterprise and Education editions of 24H2 remain supported until October 2027, and Microsoft recommends upgrading to Windows 11 25H2, widely available since September 2024. unmanaged Home and Pro devices will auto-upgrade to 25H2, though users can postpone restarts; administrators should use Settings > Windows Update to check availability.

🖱️ Microsoft is rolling out Windows 11 preview builds to Insiders that test a faster File Explorer and a streamlined, customizable context menu. The update reduces top-level clutter, improves performance and reliability, and adds a "Customize menu" shortcut to Settings for tailoring right-click options. The team says refinements also address customer feedback such as uninterrupted file renames and immediate case-only filename updates.

🔎 Microsoft reported that some users experienced search failures across Microsoft 365 services including Outlook on the web, Outlook desktop, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive. An internal incident (MO1456424) traced the problem to a recent deployment that caused resource utilization inefficiencies on affected infrastructure. Microsoft said it developed and deployed a fix to reduce resource pressure and restore service for impacted users. The company has not disclosed which regions were affected but categorized the event as an incident.

🛡️ Microsoft has removed the legacy Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC) tool from Windows 11 24H2, 25H2 and recent beta builds as part of its planned deprecation. The company previously converted WMIC to a Feature on Demand and announced its eventual removal; WMI itself remains available. IT administrators are advised to migrate scripts to PowerShell, WMI COM APIs, .NET libraries or other modern tools. The change aims to reduce abuse of WMIC as a LOLBIN used by attackers for ransomware, evasion, and other malicious activities.

🚀 Amazon Quick announces general availability of Microsoft 365 extensions for Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and Outlook, enabling AI-driven tasks directly within users' M365 environments. The Excel extension assists with advanced analysis, pivot tables, charts, and data cleaning. PowerPoint and Word extensions generate and format presentation decks and documents using organization templates and track changes. The Outlook extension helps prioritize emails, organize inboxes, schedule meetings, and draft replies using Quick data and full inbox context.

🔷 Microsoft was named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Cloud-Native Application Platforms, marking its third consecutive year in that quadrant. The post highlights how Azure’s platform consolidates application modernization, AI toolchains, operations, and security into a single foundation. It describes services like Azure App Service, Container Apps, Azure Functions, and API Management as core components enabling production AI workloads and agentic applications. Customer examples illustrate real-world production usage and operational impact.

🔒 Certighost (CVE-2026-54121) demonstrates how a standard domain user can coerce an Enterprise CA to issue a Domain Controller certificate via AD CS "chase" behavior. The flaw allows an attacker to obtain PKINIT authentication as a DC, perform DCSync, and escalate to domain compromise. Microsoft patched the issue on July 14, 2026; mitigate by patching, restricting CA outbound access, and reducing MachineAccountQuota.

📢 Microsoft reminded administrators that Windows Server 2022 will reach end of mainstream support on October 13, 2026, and will transition to extended support with monthly security updates through October 14, 2031. The company urged customers to plan upgrades to Windows Server 2025, available since November 2024, and to begin deployment testing early. Microsoft also extended hotpatching for Datacenter: Azure Edition until October 2027 and noted related lifecycle dates for other products.

🛡️ Microsoft confirmed it is developing a security update to address a new Microsoft Defender zero-day called "ShieldBreak," disclosed by researcher "Nightmare Eclipse" after the August 2026 Patch Tuesday. The PoC reportedly allows local attackers with limited permissions to escalate to SYSTEM on patched Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server, and has been tracked as CVE-2026-69414. Microsoft stated it is investigating and will provide a quality security update, while the researcher publicly disclosed the exploit amid a dispute over disclosure and bounties.

🔔 Amazon Quick has made Microsoft 365 extensions for Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and Outlook generally available. These extensions let Quick operate directly inside users' M365 environments to handle complex local tasks, including document redlining, financial model building, presentation creation, and inbox management. Each extension is tailored: Excel for data analysis and cleaning, PowerPoint for template-driven decks, Word for formatted drafting and track changes, and Outlook for prioritizing, organizing, and drafting emails. The extensions are available in multiple AWS regions globally.

🛡️ Microsoft released patches addressing the Windows zero-day dubbed LegacyHive, disclosed after July 2026 Patch Tuesday. The flaw was revealed by a researcher using the "Nightmare Eclipse" handle, who published a proof-of-concept after the updates; the exploit requires additional credentials, limiting easy weaponization. Microsoft tracked the issue as CVE-2026-62832 and describes the bug as improper link resolution in the Windows User Profile Service that can allow local privilege escalation. ACROS Security also issued unofficial mitigations prior to Microsoft's August fixes.

🛡️ Researchers at XM Cyber demonstrated how a standard domain user can chain multiple flaws in Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) to achieve remote code execution on the primary site server. The attack combines a broken AdminService authorization, a path-traversal bug called CabSlip, weak signature validation exploitable with a low-cost commercial certificate, and an unsigned DLL load in the SMS Executive service. Microsoft patched the initial authorization flaw (CVE-2026-47301) in July, but additional fixes are expected in ConfigMgr 2609.

🔒 Microsoft warns that AI-driven tools are accelerating vulnerability discovery and exploit generation, making traditional reactive patching and detection-centric defenses insufficient. David Weston of Microsoft highlighted MDASH findings showing rapid, low-cost exploit generation and urged industry shifts toward memory-safe languages like Rust, proactive secure-by-construction methods, and AI-assisted remediation. The talk, delivered at Black Hat USA, framed resilience and prevention as the new priorities.