Microsoft Patches Target PowerPoint in May 2009

It's going to be a slow month for Microsoft, at least when it comes down to the release of security patches for its software products. Come next week, the Redmond company will make available to customers a single package of security patches. According to the software giant only various releases of a single component of the office system will be impacted by the security updates, namely PowerPoint. Microsoft plans to make the patches available on May 12, 2009 via the monthly Security Bulletins releases. The company revealed no plans for any additional security updates this month.

“We are letting customers know that next week we will be releasing one security bulletin affecting Microsoft Office PowerPoint with an aggregate severity rating of critical,” revealed Jerry Bryant, Microsoft security program manager. “The update should not require a restart unless the updated files are in use at the time they are installed. Customers can also detect systems requiring the update using the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer. Note that since this is an Office related update, it will not be available via Windows Update but will be available through the Microsoft Update service.”

The upcoming Microsoft Security Bulletin has a severity rating of Critical for PowerPoint in Office 2000 Service Pack 3. For PowerPoint XP SP3, Office 2003 SP3 and Office 2007, the fixes are considered just Important. Still, the vulnerability also impacts PowerPoint Viewer as well as Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats.

“For Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 Service Pack 1 and Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 Service Pack 2, customers also need to install the security update for Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats Service Pack 1 and Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats Service Pack 2 to be protected from the vulnerabilities described in this bulletin,” Microsoft explained.