Microsoft has released its latest monthly security fix, addressing eight vulnerabilities in its Windows operating systems.

The March edition of the company's 'Patch Tuesday' update patches the flaws in a series of three bulletins. Two of the bulletins are rated as 'important' by the company, while a third is rated as 'critical'.

The critical fix contains patches for three vulnerabilities in the Windows kernel. The vulnerabilities centre around a flaw in the handling of emf and wmf image files, which could allow an attacker to remotely execute code on a targeted system.

That fix is being issued for Windows 2000, XP and Vista as well as the Server 2003 and 2008 releases.

The first of the two bulletins rated as 'important' addresses a single vulnerability in the operation of the Secure Channel component in Windows 2000, XP, Vista and both Server versions. If targeted, the flaw could allow for spoofing attacks.

The third bulletin contains fixes for four different flaws in the DNS and WINS components which could also allow an attacker to spoof and redirect network traffic. The update applies only to Server 2003 and 2008, and other versions of Windows are not affected.

Two of the four flaws had been reported to the public, and the company noted that there is a higher likelihood of the flaws being targeted than the other vulnerabilities being addressed this month.

Users can obtain the update from the Microsoft Update service in Windows or online from the company's download site.