Microsoft’s May 2024 Patch Tuesday Updates Fix Two Zero-Day Vulnerabilities

Key Takeaways:

• Microsoft’s May 2024 Patch Tuesday updates address 59 vulnerabilities, including two zero-day flaws already being exploited by attackers.
• Microsoft has fixed a high-severity security feature bypass vulnerability in the Windows MSHTML platform and an elevation of privilege flaw in Windows DWM Core Library.
• Microsoft has introduced minor changes to Widgets icons on the taskbar and enhancements to lock screen widgets on Windows 11.

Microsoft has released the May 2024 Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 11 and Windows 10. This month, Microsoft fixed a total of 59 security vulnerabilities in Windows and other components, and there are two zero-day flaws that are already being exploited by attackers.

On the quality and experience updates front, Microsoft has released some changes to the Widgets icons on the taskbar and widgets cards on the lock screen on Windows 11. The latest update also fixes a known issue that was causing the Settings app to become unresponsive on Windows 11 PCs.

59 vulnerabilities fixed in the May 2024 Patch Tuesday updates

As highlighted by the Zero Day Initiative, Microsoft’s May 2024 Patch Tuesday Updates include fixes for 59 vulnerabilities. Among these, only one is categorized as “Critical,” 57 are deemed “Important,” and one carries a “Moderate” severity rating.

• CVE-2024-30040: This is a high-severity security feature bypass vulnerability in the Windows MSHTML platform that received an 8.8 CVSS score. The flaw could allow attackers to deceive users into opening a harmful file and then bypass OLE mitigations in Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Office to execute malicious code.
• CVE-2024-30051: This elevation of privilege flaw in Windows DWM Core Library received a 7.8 CVSS score. The security vulnerability could let local attackers gain system privileges on the target system and take complete ownership of the device.
• CVE-2024-30044: This is a remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in SharePoint Server. It could let an unauthenticated hacker with site owner permissions inject and execute arbitrary code in the context of SharePoint Server.
• CVE-2024-30033: This is an important rated elevation of privileges vulnerability in the Windows Search Service. An attacker could exploit this bug to system-level privileges and perform unauthorized actions.
• CVE-2024-30018: This is another important-rated elevation of privileges vulnerability in the Windows Kernel with a 7.8 CVSS score. The security flaw enables hackers to bypass security protections and potentially take full control of the target system.

Here’s the complete list of resolved vulnerabilities in the May 2024 Patch Tuesday updates:

Quality and experience updates

If you’re running Windows 11 versions 23H2 and 22H2, Microsoft has introduced new larger widget icons on the taskbar. The company has also added more customization options and visuals to improve the lock screen widgets for sports, weather, and finance news. Windows 11 users will also start seeing ads for some Microsoft Store apps and frequently used apps in the Recommended section of the Start menu.

For Windows 10, this month’s Patch Tuesday Update brings the same minor changes to widgets cards on the lock screen. The KB5037768 patch brings a new personalized app search experience and reliability improvements for Windows Search. Microsoft has also added support for account-related notifications for Microsoft accounts in Settings.

Microsoft has also addressed an issue that was previously causing VPN connections to fail on Windows 11 and Windows 10 devices. The company has also fixed Bluetooth connection problems with some wireless earbuds.

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.