Exchange admins hoping to receive Microsoft’s quarterly update for the email platform will have to wait weeks more due issues caused by a security fix that was scheduled to be released today.
As Microsoft rolled out monthly security updates for its other products, it also announced it would delay the quarterly cumulative update 7 (CU7) for its on-premise Exchange Server 2013.
The Exchange 2013 CU was due in November but has been now pushed back to December while it fixes an issue that may cause Office Web App files to be corrupted. It also explains the two missing bulletins in the November Patch Tuesday update.
In Microsoft’s advanced notification for November’s patches, it flagged two bulletins for security issues affecting Exchange 2007, 2010 and 2013 (CU 6 and Service Pack 1). The issues were rated as “important” due to offering an attacker a way to elevate their privileges.
In today’s Patch Tuesday update, Microsoft patched 32 vulnerabilities in Windows, Internet Explorer and Office, but held back bulletins MS14-068 and MS14-075.
According to Microsoft’s Exchange team, there was a “late breaking issue” in the installer package used with Exchange Server 2013.
“We have discovered that in some instances, Office Web App files will be corrupted by installation of a Security Update. The issue is resolved by executing an MSI repair operation before a Security Update is installed. We do not believe this is acceptable behaviour and is unfortunately something that customers might only discover after they install a Security Update,” it said.
The company believes the installer defect only affects Exchange Server 2013 however it’s also delayed the scheduled releases of Exchange 2007 and 2010 as it investigates whether they’re impacted too.
The feature updates, Exchange users can expect when Microsoft fixes the issues can be seen here and here.
Read more: Pervasive technologies and its implication on security
Starting last year, Microsoft unbundled new security fixes from product updates, instead delivering them as independent packages that customers can apply to a previous CUs or install during the upgrade to the current CU.
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