Patch Tuesday brings fixes for Office and Windows

Microsoft has issued nine bulletins to address 19 individual security flaws

Microsoft has issued nine bulletins to address 19 individual security flaws as part of its monthly patch release.

The August edition of Patch Tuesday includes five patches for flaws which could allow an attacker to remotely execute code on a targeted system. Such flaws are often targeted by cybercriminals to install malware.

The five 'critical' patches include fixes for vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office, Windows and Visual Studio. The Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac tool also received a critical patch.

The company noted that at least one of the patched flaws is already being targeted for attacks in the wild, while exploit code for another has been publically posted.

Dave Marcus, director of security research and communications at McAfee Avert Labs, said: "There’s no break from patching this summer.

"Microsoft is playing catch up with these patches as cybercriminals have already used some of the serious vulnerabilities to commandeer vulnerable Windows computers."

In addition to the five critical updates, Microsoft has released four additional patches fated as 'important.' Of those, two could potentially allow an attacker to obtain elevated privileges, while another could allow remote code execution and a fourth could potentially allow a denial of service attack.