Microsoft has reissued a critical security patch after it reportedly brought problems on Outlook, causing computers to freeze, crash or go black.
The culprit was determined to be MS15-115, also known as KB3097877, which is part of the November Patch Tuesday, Microsoft's monthly security fix update.
Apparently, the only affected operating systems were Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, where the MS-115 is noted to cause "screen flashing" before going black as well as "crashing." To resolve the issues, Microsoft recommends to immediately apply the reissued update.
"Bulletin revised to inform customers that the 3097877 update for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 has been rereleased to correct a problem with the original update that could cause some applications to quit unexpectedly. Customers who have already successfully installed the update on Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 systems should reinstall the update," Microsoft posts on the MS15-115 security bulletin, where the rereleased version can be downloaded.
Users started a dedicated thread surrounding the issue on Microsoft's forums, where some say that uninstalling the KB3097877 resolves the issue on Windows 7 and some say that the reissued security patch fixes the problem as well.
The MS15-115 is a critical update that's meant to resolve seven severe vulnerabilities and prevent remote code execution attacks that embedded fonts on untrusted websites can trigger.
Microsoft didn't go into details on what caused the issue or how the flawed patch was released in the first place, preferring to immediately rerelease an updated version instead to address the problem. It's also unclear why Microsoft stuck with the same KB code as the faulty patch, which could potentially cause quite a problem for some admins.
To fix the problem, simply run Windows Update or manually download the KB3097877 via Microsoft's Download Center.
This isn't the first time that Microsoft rolled out faulty patches, as last year's August Patch Tuesday had some components that caused the Blue Screen of Death. The Redmond tech firm notes that only "a small number of customers" were affected, though.
Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns | Flickr
