A day after it said it would not be issuing any security fixes until 14 March, Microsoft has issued a patch to fix bugs deemed to be critical in versions of Adobe's Flash Player that run on several versions of Windows.
Patches for two zero-day bugs in Windows, however, will only arrive in March, after the February updates were cancelled due to unknown reasons.
The issuing of this patch, which fixes a total of 13 flaws, is somewhat redundant as Adobe itself issued remedial patches for Flash Player on Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Chrome OS on 14 February, the same Tuesday on which Microsoft cancelled its monthly issue of security fixes.
The Flash Player fixes released by Microsoft are for Windows Server 2016, Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2.
{loadposition sam08}There is no patch for Windows 7, though it is still supported by Microsoft, with support scheduled to end in 2020.
In all cases, the Flash vulnerabilities that have been patched could allow the execution of code from a remote location.
Microsoft was due to switch to a new system of updates this month, junking its old system of issuing detailed security bulletins along with separate patches.
Instead, the company has said it would provide a searchable database of support documents named the "security updates guide".
That system will now, presumably, be introduced in March.