Microsoft October 2023 patch fixes 3 actively hacked vulnerabilities, 12 critical, total over 100 issues

Microsoft's October 2023 Patch Tuesday has rolled out with security enhancements addressing a total of 104 vulnerabilities.

Out of the 104 vulnerabilities, 45 are categorized under remote code execution (RCE) bugs. Twelve of them have been rated by Microsoft as 'Critical' and these are all RCE flaws. This batch includes three zero-day vulnerabilities that had been under active exploitation

• Elevation of Privilege Vulnerabilities: 26
• Security Feature Bypass Vulnerabilities: 3
• Remote Code Execution Vulnerabilities: 45
• Information Disclosure Vulnerabilities: 12
• Denial of Service Vulnerabilities: 17
• Spoofing Vulnerabilities: 1

 
Microsoft's total count of 104 vulnerabilities excludes one particular Chromium vulnerability, identified as CVE-2023-5346. This vulnerability had been addressed by Google on October 3rd and subsequently incorporated into Microsoft Edge.

Three Actively Exploited Zero-day Vulnerabilities:

1. CVE-2023-41763 - Skype for Business Vulnerability - Microsoft has rectified an elevation of privileges vulnerability in Skype for Business that was being exploited. Although attackers exploiting this flaw can access some sensitive data, they can't modify the information or restrict access to the resource. This vulnerability allows attackers to penetrate internet perimeters due to Skype's public internet exposure.
2. CVE-2023-36563 - Microsoft WordPad Vulnerability - Microsoft addressed an information disclosure vulnerability in WordPad, which if exploited, allows attackers to pilfer NTLM hashes. To capitalize on this vulnerability, attackers would require system login credentials and then trick a user into opening a malicious file. Extracted NTLM hashes can be decrypted or utilized in NTLM Relay attacks for unauthorized account access.
3. CVE-2023-44487 - HTTP/2 Rapid Reset Attack - Microsoft and other vendors have highlighted a new DDoS attack technique named 'HTTP/2 Rapid Reset', which has seen active exploitation since August, setting new records in terms of attack volume. Attackers exploit the HTTP/2 stream cancellation feature, repeatedly sending and cancelling requests, causing the server to be overwhelmed and leading to a Denial of Service (DoS) state. Microsoft's recommended mitigation is disabling the HTTP/2 protocol on web servers.

A detailed list of fixed vulnerabilities: