Microsoft Releases November 2024 Patch Tuesday Updates for Windows 11 and Windows 10

Microsoft released yesterday the November 2024 Patch Tuesday updates for all supported versions of Windows 11 and Windows 10. This month, the company has fixed a total of 89 Windows vulnerabilities, with eight of them more likely to be exploited by attackers.

89 vulnerabilities fixed in the November 2024 Patch Tuesday updates

Among the 89 Windows vulnerabilities Microsoft fixed this month, 4 are rated “Critical,” 84 are rated Important, and one is rated Moderate in severity. However, two vulnerabilities are already being exploited in the wild, and you can find more details below:

• CVE-2024-49039 – This is a Windows Task Scheduler elevation of privilege vulnerability that lets hackers execute remote procedure calls (RPC) available only to privileged accounts. The CVSS 8.8-rated flaw affects Windows 10 and later versions, including Windows Server 2025.
• CVE-2024-43451 – This spoofing vulnerability enables hackers to steal a victim’s NTLMv2 hash to validate credentials in Windows environments. This important rated flaw with a CVSS score of 6.5 affects all Windows versions and requires minimal user interaction.
• CVE-2024-49019 – This elevation-of-privilege vulnerability in Active Directory Certificate Services enables hackers to gain domain administrator access. Microsoft has provided various recommendations to help organizations secure certificate templates.
• CVE-2024-49040 – This is an Exchange Server spoofing flaw with a CVSS score of 7.5. It could allow cybercriminals to make phishing attempts and send malicious messages to the victims. This security vulnerability affects both Exchange Server 2016 and 2019.
• CVE-2024-43639 – This is a critical remote code execution (RCE) flaw in Windows Kerberos that could be exploited by an unauthenticated attacker remotely. This bug has a CVSS score of 9.8.

You can find the full list of CVEs released by Microsoft with the November 2024 Patch Tuesday updates below:

Quality and experience updates

For Windows 11 version 24H2, the KB5046617 update brings several enhancements, including Copilot key settings, notifications suggestions, and narrator improvements. Microsoft has also introduced a new Windows Sandbox app that adds support for Runtime clipboard redirection, audio and video input control as well as the ability to share folders with the host at runtime.

Additionally, Microsoft has released the KB5046633 update for users running Windows 11 versions 23H2 and 22H2. This patch also includes the new Copilot key settings and enhancements for Narrator and notifications. Microsoft has addressed an issue that was previously causing excessive battery consumption in Modern Standby mode.

For Windows 10 versions 22H2 and 21H2, the KB5046613 update introduces a new account manager on the Start menu. Microsoft has also fixed a bug that was previously preventing users from opening apps like Quick Assist, Microsoft Teams, and Windows Narrator without administrative privileges.

Windows Update testing and best practices

Organizations looking to deploy this month’s patches should conduct thorough testing before deploying them widely on production systems. That said, applying the patches widely shouldn’t be delayed longer than necessary as hackers start to work out how to weaponize newly reported vulnerabilities.

A best practice is to make sure you have backed up systems before applying updates. Every month, users experience issues with Windows updates that lead to systems not booting, application and hardware compatibility issues, or even data loss in extreme cases.

There are backup tools built into Windows and Windows Server that you can use to restore systems in the event a patch causes a problem. The backup features in Windows can be used to restore an entire system, or files and folders on a granular basis.