Microsoft Releases Patch Tuesday Update for Windows 10

It’s the second Tuesday of the month, and Microsoft’s releasing a new set of updates for all supported versions of Windows 10. It’s releasing updates for the latest version of Windows 10 — 1803, as well as older versions, including version 1507 (KB4343892), 1607 (KB4343887), 1703 (KB4343885), and 1709 (KB4343897).

Patch Tuesday updates are cumulative updates that usually only include minor patches and security fixes. This month’s updates aren’t any different, at least for the latest version of Windows 10. For version 1803, Microsoft has released KB4343909, which brings the build number up to 17134.228. There aren’t any notable fixes here, apart from the usual security patches and bug fixes — but here’s the list of fixes and improvements anyway:

• Provides protections against a new speculative execution side-channel vulnerability known as L1 Terminal Fault (L1TF) that affects Intel® Core® processors and Intel® Xeon® processors (CVE-2018-3620 and CVE-2018-3646). Make sure previous OS protections against Spectre Variant 2 and Meltdown vulnerabilities are enabled using the registry settings outlined in the Windows Client and Windows Server guidance KB articles. (These registry settings are enabled by default for Windows Client OS editions, but disabled by default for Windows Server OS editions.)
• Addresses an issue that causes high CPU usage that results in performance degradation on some systems with Family 15h and 16h AMD processors. This issue occurs after installing the June 2018 or July 2018 Windows updates from Microsoft and the AMD microcode updates that address Spectre Variant 2 (CVE-2017-5715 – Branch Target Injection).
• Addresses an issue that prevents apps from receiving mesh updates after resuming. This issue occurs for apps that use Spatial Mapping mesh data and participate in the Sleep or Resume cycle.
• Ensures that Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge support the preload=”none” tag.
• Addresses an issue that prevents some applications running on HoloLens, such as Remote Assistance, from authenticating after upgrading from Windows 10, version 1607, to Windows 10, version 1803.
• Addresses an issue that significantly reduced battery life after upgrading to Windows 10, version 1803.
• Addresses an issue that causes Device Guard to block some ieframe.dll class IDs after installing the May 2018 Cumulative Update.
• Addresses a vulnerability related to the Export-Modulemember() function when used with a wildcard (*) and a dot-sourcing script. After installing this update, existing modules on devices that have Device Guard enabled will intentionally fail. The exception error is “This module uses the dot-source operator while exporting functions using wildcard characters, and this is disallowed when the system is under application verification enforcement.” For more information, see https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2018-8200 and https://aka.ms/PSModuleFunctionExport.
• Security updates to Windows Server.

The latest updates are available from Windows Update right away. Microsoft did release two patches for the latest version of Windows 10 last month, so it’ll be interesting to see if we get another patch later this month,