Microsoft Patch Tuesday, December 2025 Edition (krebsonsecurity.com)

Microsoft's December 2025 Patch Tuesday rolled out updates addressing 56 security flaws across its Windows operating systems and associated software, prominently fixing one zero-day vulnerability (CVE-2025-62221) that has been actively exploited. This marks the second consecutive year that Microsoft has patched over a thousand vulnerabilities, with 1,129 vulnerabilities corrected in total for 2025 — an 11.9% increase from the previous year. The zero-day flaw involves privilege escalation within the Windows Cloud Files Mini Filter Driver, a critical component for cloud storage services that poses significant risk even in systems without third-party applications like OneDrive installed. Among the updates, three vulnerabilities received a “critical” designation, particularly two affecting Microsoft Office that can be exploited merely by previewing malicious emails. Additionally, a noteworthy patch fixed CVE-2025-64671, a remote code execution flaw in the GitHub Copilot Plugin for JetBrains, allowing potential abuse of the AI software to execute harmful commands. This highlights ongoing security challenges within integrated development environments (IDEs), an issue reflected in the broader set of vulnerabilities across major AI coding platforms. With attacks increasingly leveraging privilege escalation vulnerabilities, prompt application of these patches is crucial for users aiming to secure their systems against evolving threats.