Patch Tuesday
The second Tuesday of every month, when Microsoft and several other vendors release their regular security updates.
Microsoft has released monthly updates on the second Tuesday since 2003. Adobe, SAP, Ivanti and others now release on the same day, so it's the busiest patching day of the month.
Most months, Microsoft marks a few of the fixes as "Exploited: Yes", meaning attackers were already using those flaws. Those are the updates to install first, ideally within days.
Urgent fixes don't always wait for Patch Tuesday. Vendors release emergency "out-of-band" updates when a serious zero-day is under attack.
Why it matters to you: Set a monthly reminder for the second Wednesday to confirm your computers and servers installed that month's updates.
Related terms
- Zero-dayA security hole that attackers found and used before the software's maker had a fix ready.
- Privilege escalationA flaw that lets someone who already has a little access, like a normal user account, take full control of a system.
- Exploited vulnerabilityA software flaw that attackers are actually using in real attacks, not just one that could be used in theory.