Patch Tuesday November 2023: the last month of autumn but the beginning of a new security adventure.
Patch Tuesday November 2023
Lots of security updates this month for your business. WordPress.org released WordPress 6.4.1 and Microsoft released almost 60 updates.
WordPress 6.4.1
WordPress.org released WordPress 6.4.1 on November 9th. This was quickly followed by a slew of plugin updates: new versions of Elementor, OceanWP, Duplicator, numerous themes.
Hackers get into most web sites via out of date plugins, WordPress core, and poor login passwords. Check your WordPress web site.
Microsoft Security Mulch
Microsoft released 58 updates November 14th. The ones that affect small businesses? Microsoft Office update (including Excel fix), Windows updates (including one critical) and .NET fixes. What is .NET? Simply put .NET is programming associated with a lot of other vendor software like Sage Desktop, QuickBooks Desktop, and databases. That .NET update can wreak havoc on that kind of software until it is installed.
Last month Microsoft had to pull one update, Enterprise Windows folks got an automated fix, Windows Pro folks got shown the poor door with having to do the same update twice. Recommend you wait two or three days to be on the safe side.
The November 14th updates are in addition to all the Edge updates last week. Some of the Edge updates were security related however most seem to involve wrecking your default settings so Microsoft can cram their AI and content on you.
More details on the latest Microsoft updates here.
Apple Bytes
Apple has finally fixed the Watch battery drain problem. Folks who upgraded their iPhones to iOS 17 experienced Watch battery drain problems. Apple finally released a Watch OS update to fix this. Remember you have to restart your Watch for this update to take effect. More details on Apple Watch fix here.
Apple also released security updates for Mac OS Ventura 13.6.2 and 14.1.1 on November 9th. The Apple security update guide does not show any details on what was fixed here.
Intel CPU code bug
Intel announced November 14th they discovered a flaw in their CPUs that causes “very strange behaviour” and may a security a problem. The flaw affects most Intel CPUs released in the last five years. Early details on this Intel bug here.
Check for updates from your laptop vendor or motherboard manufacturer soon for the fix for this CPU problem.
Remember an ounce of patching is cheaper than a pound of hacking.
