Microsoft issues 10 security patches, including three 'critical' ones

Microsoft released 10 security bulletins today -- three rated "critical," and the remainder rated "important" on the company's severity rating scale. Six of the bulletins address vulnerabilities that Microsoft says could be reliably exploited, including two of the three critical bulletins.

Today's release affects all of Microsoft's Windows operating systems, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office, Internet Information Services (IIS) and the .NET Framework.

Eight of the 10 bulletins address client-side vulnerabilities, which can be exploited only if a user initiates an action such as visiting a malicious website or opening a malformed document. The other two vulnerabilities can be exploited against Web servers or client applications without any interaction with the end user.