KB5023706 and KB5023698: These are the patches for Windows 11 22H2 and 21H2

On March 15, 2023By Garmin Philip

windows update

Patchday March is here: As usual, Microsoft is releasing a current update for Windows 11 22H2 and 21H2 on the second Tuesday of the month. Here we show what the download of patches KB5023698 and KB5023706 entails.

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Microsoft Update: Two new patches are available for download for Windows 11.

For Microsoft’s current operating system Windows 11, the company has released a new update for both the 21H2 and 22H2 versions of the OS, which are now available for download. As always, patches KB5023698 (21H2) and KB5023706 (22H2) will provide new features, bug fixes and security improvements – the following overview shows what the current Windows 11 update brings to Patch Day March.

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Windows 11 KB5023698 and KB5023706: This is changing

Both the KB5023698 and KB5023706 patches bring few new features to Windows 11. These include the mandatory DCOM hardening, which permanently activates the “Distributed Component Object Model” security protocol. This ensures secure communication between networked devices.

The main focus of the two Windows 11 patches, however, is on various bug fixes: This primarily fixes problems with printers whose drivers are not compatible with the GDI specifications (Graphical Devices Interface), and the installation of some printers will run more smoothly. A bug where copying files from a network to a local hard drive was slower than expected should also be a thing of the past with the new updates. These changes were previously available as an option.

With regard to security improvements, two actively used vulnerabilities are closed with KB5023698 and KB5023706. One of them affects Microsoft Outlook and is flagged as CVE-2023-23397; due to its CVS score of 9.8, it is considered critical. Using a specially crafted email, attackers were able to gain access to their victims’ servers. On the other hand, another vulnerability with the identifier CVE-2023-24880 and a medium severity of 5.4 affected the security feature Windows Smartscreen and allowed criminals to circumvent certain protective measures and thus gain a larger attack surface.

With KB5023698, Windows 11 22H2 lands on build number 22621.1413, while KB5023706 pushes the 21H2 version to build number 22000.1696. As usual, Microsoft lists all changes made in the respective release notes KB5023698 and KB5023706 on. The update itself is triggered as usual via Microsoft’s update function, alternatively the download can also be carried out manually via the Microsoft Update Catalog for 22H2 and for 21H2 start.

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