Record-Breaking Patch Tuesday: Microsoft Fixes 421 Vulnerabilities, Including Four Zero-Days
Microsoft's August Patch Tuesday saw one of its largest security releases to date, with a total of 421 CVEs fixed. This includes four zero-days, with one already being actively exploited by attackers.
The most urgent fix is CVE-2026-68820, a use-after-free vulnerability in the Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock (afd.sys). Attackers are already using this bug to escalate to SYSTEM-level privileges on unpatched machines.
Three Excel remote code execution bugs and one SharePoint vulnerability also made it onto the list of high-priority fixes. The Lazarus Group has been linked to the exploited zero-day activity, according to Cyber Tech Cafe's August roundup.
CISA issued a special alert demanding immediate patching of four vulnerabilities spanning Microsoft, VMware, and Apple products that were already being exploited in the wild.