Eight bulletins wrap up Microsoft's security year

The final Patch Tuesday of 2008 contains eight security bulletins

Microsoft is preparing to release the December edition of its monthly security release.

The final Patch Tuesday of 2008 is set to contain eight security bulletins, addressing flaws in Windows, Office and Internet Explorer.

Six of the eight bulletins have been rated 'critical', the highest of Microsoft's security alert levels. Critical bulletins often address flaws which can be exploited remotely by attackers to run code with minimal user interaction.

The critical fixes include a pair of flaws in Windows itself. The first is rated critical for all currently supported versions of the operating system, while the second applies only to Windows Vista and Server 2008 systems. IE6 and IE7 will also be receiving a critical update.

The other three critical fixes cover various components of Office. One applies to Office FrontPage and Project systems, while the other two will fix security flaws in Word and Excel.

The two 'important' patches include fixes for issues in Windows Media Player and Office SharePoint Server.

The releases are usually posted by midday US time, and can be installed automatically through Windows Update and Microsoft update services.