Mar 4 2011 9:54PM GMT

Three Security Bulletins Planned for March Patch Tuesday

Tony Bradley Profile: Tony Bradley

Next Tuesday is a big day for more reason than one. It is Fat Tuesday–a day to consume decadent paczkis and kick off Mardi Gras. It is also Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday for March. Patch Tuesday comes quick when the first day of the month is a Tuesday.

Microsoft has only three security bulletins planned this month. Two affect Windows, and one addresses issues with Microsoft Office. One of the two slated for Windows is Critical, while the second is rated Important. The Microsoft Office bulletin is ranked as Important as well, and all three may require a system reboot for the update to complete.

Amol Sarwate, manage of the Vulnerability Research Lab for Qualys, passed on this analysis of the Patch Tuesday advance notification.

“The critical update affects Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 while Windows Sever 2003 and Server 2008 are not affected. One of the important updates affects all Windows operating systems and we expect it to be for the MHTML Information Disclosure issue which was left un-patched in last month’s patch cycle (2501696). The other important update patches the little known Office Groove 2007 software.”