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You may recall the Keystone Kops reenactment that goes by the code name CVE-2019-1367. In short:

Sept. 23: Microsoft released the CVE-2019-1367 bulletin, and published Win10 cumulative updates in the Microsoft Catalog for versions 1903, 1809, 1803, 1709, 1703, Server 2019 and Server 2016. It also released an IE rollup for Win7, 8.1, Server 2012 and Server 2012 R2. Those were only available by manual download from the Catalog — they didn’t go out through Windows Update, or through the Update Server. 

Sept. 24: Microsoft released “optional, non-security” cumulative updates for Win10 version 1809, 1803, 1709, 1703, 1607/Server 2016. Nothing for Win10 version 1903. We also got Monthly Rollup Previews for Win7 and 8.1. Microsoft didn’t bother to mention it, but we found that those Previews include the IE zero-day patch as well. This bunch of patches went out through normal channels — Windows Update, Update Server — but they’re “optional” and “Preview,” which means most savvy individuals and companies won’t install them until they’ve been tested.

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It’s a smelter-weight slapdown. 

In one corner you have the Chicken Little contingent, which insists that September’s IE zero-day patch must be important because Microsoft marked it as “Exploited: Yes” and memorialized it with an extremely odd patch on a Monday, followed in Keystone Kops fashion with a stumbling trail of follow-ons. 

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Microsoft on Tuesday changed its plans for selling Windows 7 post-retirement support, saying that it will offer patches-for-a-price to any business, no matter how small, that’s willing to pay.

“Through January 2023, we will extend the availability of paid Windows 7 Extended Security Updates (ESU) to businesses of all sizes,” Jared Spataro, an executive in the Microsoft 365 group, wrote in a post to a company blog.

Microsoft had announced the ESU program in September 2018. Since April, when the company started selling ESU, only customers with volume licensing deals for Windows 7 Enterprise or Windows 10 Professional have been eligible to purchase the support add-on.

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Microsoft set the patching world on its ear on Monday when it released an “out of band” patch to fix a vulnerability known as CVE-2019-1367. Susan Bradley raised the alarm immediately. I chimed in a few hours later with more details.

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