Two bulletins from Microsoft on Patch Tuesday

On Thursday, Microsoft announced two security bulletins for Tuesday. The advance notice is intended as a heads up for IT departments before Patch Tuesday, the company's monthly patch day. One bulletin is considered critical, the most serious ranking offered by the software giant, while the other is ranked important, the next most serious.

The critical patch will affect XML Core Services in Windows and Microsoft Office. The important bulletin will affect only Windows. If exploited, Microsoft says the specific vulnerabilities addressed in these bulletins could cause remote code execution.