Microsoft on Tuesday addressed 34 vulnerabilities as part of its monthly patch update.
In total, the software giant dispensed seven bulletins, six rated "critical" and one "important," to close off holes in Windows, Internet Explorer, .NET Framework, Silverlight, GDI+ and Windows Defender.
Microsoft, as well as researchers who studied the patches, ranked MS13-053 and MS13-055 as the highest-priority fixes.
The former resolves eight vulnerabilities, two of which were publicly known and being exploited in "limited, targeted attacks," in the Windows kernel. The latter is a familiar cumulative patch for vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer, this one closing 17 bugs.
Meanwhile, Adobe on Tuesday released updates for its Flash, Shockwave and ColdFusion players to close a number of "critical" vulnerabilities that could lead to effects ranging from denial-of-service attacks to system takeovers. Details can be found here.
