Risk: High
Microsoft identifies six critical issues and five important issues in August's Patch Tuesday:
The most severe flaw is found in Windows Image Colour Management System. If a user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system.
Other critical vulnerabilities affect Internet Explorer, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Office filters as well as a vulnerability in Snapshot Viewer for Microsoft Access which may be exploited by malicious users.
Microsoft also identifies five important issues in August's Patch Tuesday:
The most severe of which is a vulnerability in Ipsec Policy Processing which could allow information disclosure by causing systems to ignore IPsec policies and transmit network traffic in clear text.
Flaws in Windows Messenger, Outlook Express & Windows Mail may also cause information disclosure.
Flaws found in Event System and Word if exploited may cause remote code execution.